IPL 2026: Why is Gurjapneet Singh not playing CSK vs SRH Match 63?

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) lock horns with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Monday, May 18. This is an important clash in the IPL with playoff implications. CSK are placed fifth on the table with six wins from 12 matches. Meanwhile, SRH are sitting at No. 3, winning seven in 12 games.

CSK vs SRH: Toss Update

Ruturaj Gaikwad won the toss and elected to bat first, citing that the pitch looks dry. Meanwhile, Pat Cummins said that he would have bowled first anyway.

CSK v SRH: Akeal Hosein returns, SRH remain unchanged

For the Super Kings, Akeal Hosein returned to the side in place of left-arm seamer Gurjapneet Singh. On the other hand, SRH opted to go in with the same team that played the last game. Gaikwad mentioned that MS Dhoni is with the team but is still not fully fit to play.

CSK vs SRH: What did the captains say?

Ruturaj Gaikwad, CSK captain, 

We are looking to bat first. Well, it’s nothing complicated, it’s just simple for us. Take it one game at a time, look to win this one, look to start well, look to assess the conditions well and put your best foot forward. (Asking about the pressure in this game) Well, nothing, not as such, it’s just that we have to respect conditions and choose what’s the best for the conditions. And yes, I think batting first looks good here now. (Is MS here?) He’s still here, but he’s not fit enough to play this game. Hopefully we win this one and you’ll have a low in the last game. We got just one change. Akeal comes in for Gurjapneet.

Pat Cummins, SRH captain, 

Yeah, it’s the tragedy now for us to hopefully qualify. Yeah, we’ve had about a six-day break, so ready to go. Yeah, that’s right. You know, it’s T20 cricket, IPL, you’ve got to kind of buy into a certain style, even if it doesn’t work every night and I think our guys have done that really well. But that’s your strength. You’ve got to back your ability. The mood’s been great. We know the way we play is probably not going to work every single game, but it’s going to be exciting. So, we think it’s our best style, so we’ll just keep leaning into that aggressiveness. We would have probably had a bowl, but who knows, so not too upset. (Team for today) Same as the last game.

SRH vs CSK: Playing XIs

Chennai Super Kings

Sanju Samson (WK), Ruturaj Gaikwad (C), Urvil Patel, Kartik Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, Prashant Veer, Akeal Hosein, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Spencer Johnson.

Impact Substitutes: Mukesh Choudhary, Matthew Short, Sarfaraz Khan, Aman Khan, Gurjapneet Singh

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (WK), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, Smaran Ravichandran, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins (C), Shivang Kumar, Eshan Malinga, Sakib Hussain, Praful Hinge.

Impact Substitutes: Travis Head, Aniket Verma, Liam Livingstone, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel