Watch: Anukul Roy dismisses Ruturaj Gaikwad for 7 during CSK vs KKR clash in IPL 2026

The Chennai Super Kings (CSK), who opened their account in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 against the Delhi Capitals, locked horns with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for the next encounter at the MA Chidambaram Stadium at Chepauk. The visitors, who have one point besides their name, are yet to get a victory in this season under their belt. 

The Ajinkya Rahane-led side won the toss and had no hesitation in bowling first on a surface where he perhaps expected a little dew towards the second innings. However, the CSK captain, Ruturaj Gaikwad, claimed that it would remain the same throughout the 40 overs. 

Ruturaj Gaikwad’s poor IPL 2026 continues with another low score

Sanju Samson, who celebrated his first century for the new franchise in this edition, continued the dominance as he opened the game with three successive boundaries. Vaibhav Arora was short and provided width to the Kerala-born, who was not afraid of freeing his arms and nailed those balls into the boundaries.

The speculation, however, was massively on Captain Gaikwad, who had yet to get a good score in this season. In the previous clash, the right-handed batter didn’t even try to go hard after the bowlers inside the power play, which raised eyebrows from the home fans.

Watch the video here: 

But against KKR, Gaikwad looked to be a little aggressive as he reached out to the short delivery outside the off stump against Cameron Green. His thick outside beat the third man in the circle and raced away to the boundary. But that turned out to be his last boundary of the evening.

Rahane introduced the left-arm spinner, Anukul Roy, into the attack. And on the second legal delivery, the Jharkhand spinner sent back the CSK captain for seven runs. It was a slower delivery away from the reach of the batter, who didn’t get the elevation, having reached out for the ball to find the deep mid-wicket fielder.

CSK make strong start inside powerplay vs KKR

Gaikwad’s dismissal was a blessing in disguise for the home side, who ended the powerplay with 72 runs for the loss of two wickets. Samson continued his powerful shots from the other end, but it was Ayush Mhatre who caught the eye.

See Also: Pat Cummins set to rejoin SRH in India for IPL 2026 in major boost

The youngster nailed Cameron Green for 20 runs in the fourth over before drilling Arora for three successive boundaries before being dismissed. He ended up with 38 runs in just 17 balls, thanks to two sixes and six boundaries.

Brief Scores (at the time of writing): CSK- 94/2 (Ayush Mhatre 38, Anukul Roy 1/15) vs KKR

Fans react to Gaikwad’s poor IPL 2026

Here is how the fans have reacted to another poor score of Gaikwad, stretching his struggling IPL 2026 season-