The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday announced the full schedule for the 2026 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Chennai Super Kings (five-time champions), who lifted the title in 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2023, will kick off their campaign with an away game against the Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati on March 30, before returning home to Chennai to host Punjab Kings on April 3. Meanwhile, their final league game will be against Gujarat Titans on May 21.
Matches in the first phase will be played across 10 cities — Bengaluru, Mumbai, Guwahati, New Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad. Meanwhile in the second phase, matches will be played across 12 cities (Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Jaipur, Dharamshala, Raipur and New Chandigarh).
CSK will also travel to Bengaluru to play Royal Challengers Bengaluru on April 5, before hosting Delhi Capitals at the Chepauk after a gap of six days. Then in the second phase, CSK start off by facing Kolkata Knight Riders in Chennai on April 14. They will also face Mumbai Indians on April 23 at the Wankhede Stadium.
Chennai entered the IPL auction last December with the second-largest purse of INR 43.40 crore and spent more than half of it on uncapped players, marking a significant shift from CSK's longstanding experience-first approach. They roped in Prashant Veer and Kartik Sharma for a staggering INR 14.2 crore each and also made smart signings in Akeal Hosein and Matt Henry.
{{/usCountry}}Chennai entered the IPL auction last December with the second-largest purse of INR 43.40 crore and spent more than half of it on uncapped players, marking a significant shift from CSK's longstanding experience-first approach. They roped in Prashant Veer and Kartik Sharma for a staggering INR 14.2 crore each and also made smart signings in Akeal Hosein and Matt Henry.
{{/usCountry}}Chennai's biggest acquisition heading into the new season has been the signing of Sanju Samson in exchange for Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran in a trade deal with Rajasthan Royals. While it has sparked questions over MS Dhoni’s presence in the line-up and whether he will be available in full capacity for the entire season, fans have been assured by CSK’s CEO that Dhoni will be part of the entire campaign.
Here is CSK's IPL 2026 schedule:
RR vs CSK - 7:30 PM IST - March 30 - Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati
CSK vs PBKS - 7:30 PM IST - April 3 - MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
RCB vs CSK - 7:30 PM IST - April 5 - M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
CSK vs DC - 7:30 PM IST - April 11 - MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
CSK vs KKR - 7:30 PM IST - April 14 - MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
SRH vs CSK - 7:30 PM - April 18 - Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Hyderabad
MI vs CSK - 7:30 PM - April 23 - Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
GT vs CSK - 3:30 PM - April 26 - Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad
CSK vs MI - 7:30 PM - May 2 - MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
DC vs CSK - 7:30 PM - May 5 - Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi
CSK vs LSG - 3:30 PM - May 10 - MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
LSG vs CSK - 7:30 PM - May 15 - Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow
CSK vs SRH - 7:30 PM - May 18 - MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
CSK vs GT - 7:30 PM - May 21 - MA Chidambaram Stadium
CSK's full squad for IPL 2026:
Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Ayush Mhatre, M.S. Dhoni, Dewald Brevis, Urvil Patel, Shivam Dube, Jamie Overton, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Noor Ahmad, Khaleel Ahmed, Anshul Kamboj, Gurjapneet Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Mukesh Choudhary, Nathan Ellis, Sanju Samson, Kartik Sharma, Prashant Veer, Rahul Chahar, Akeal Hosein, Matt Henry, Matthew Short, Aman Khan, Sarfaraz Khan, Zakary Foulkes