CSK vs RR meet in the 3rd match of IPL 2026. RR won the toss and opted to bowl, hoping to utilise the powerplay to strike down as many CSK batsmen as possible. They have pacers Jofra Archer and Nandre Burger, tailored to exploit early pace-friendly conditions.

CSK, on the other hand, although it doesn’t have Dhoni playing for them, but have a heavy top order batsman who can go explosive. Sanju Samson, the newly added in the CSK team, is in red-hot form after his heroics in the concluded T20 World Cup, so he was expected to go all guns blazing with captain Ruturaj Gaikwad. Also, youngster Ayush Mhatre has a good name to attack in the power play. But things overturned as RR made plans and took wickets of the Top 3 in the power play with dominance. Jofra Archer and Nandre Burger, with their fire spell, crafted an early collapse, restricting CSK in the Powerplay, posing a mammoth total. The fourth one, Mathhew Short falls to Sandeep Sharma, making CSK’s total 41/4 in powerplay, which is quite a below-par score. If that was not enough, Jadeja struck in the middle over with Sarfaraz and Dubey’s wicket, dismantling the middle order. Then wickets kept tumbling until Jamie Overton posted a partnership of 33 with Kamboj to take CSK to a decent total of 127.

Rajasthan didn’t hold back in the chase. They kept going since ball one, or to be precise, the Wonder Kid, 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. He scored a 52 off 17 balls as the third-highest 50 in IPL. He is definitely a different gravy. Rajasthan easily chased the total in 15 overs.

CSK fans were traumatised to see their team in such bad shape.

Here are 3 reasons why CSK won’t qualify for the Playoffs:

  1. Missing MS Dhoni in the first phase:

Dhoni has suffered an injury and thus is out for two weeks, which makes the team vulnerable without a good leader guiding them, leaving all responsibility to Ruturaj Gaikwad. When Dhoni joins in the second phase, it might be too late to rebuild team dynamics and confidence for the season.

  1. Lack of Depth in Batting and Strategies:

Compared to modern, aggressive T20 standards, where scores often exceed

CSK's batting was perceived as slow or conservative starting from 2025, when they lost major games and ended at the bottom of the table. There was no clarity of roles or technique. Although this year they have acquired Sanju Samson, there is too much dependence on him, and also the middle order looks weak with only Shivam Dube. CSK also doesn’t have strong domestic players in the squad, whereas other teams seem to be on a strategy. Since 2025, this has been a major reason why CSK is failing.

  1. Inexperienced Bowling

CSK’s bowling contingent looks weak. CSK has no lead pace attack that can take wickets in the powerplay or good death bowlers. They let experienced Jadeja and death bowler Pathirana go, and now they have no better bowling combinations or wicket takers.

Starting from defensive mindset to Auction issues to Captaincy dilemma, CSK has done it all wrong and only a miracle can save them from this.