CSK take their playoff push to Lucknow without Overton as eliminated LSG host the rematch
Chennai Super Kings head to Lucknow on Friday looking for the fourth straight win that would keep their IPL 2026 playoff push very much alive. The opposition is the same one they thrashed at Chepauk last Sunday: Rishabh Pant's Lucknow Super Giants, now mathematically eliminated and playing the last three games of a wrecked campaign.
CSK sit fifth on 12 points from 11 matches with three group games left: away here, home to Sunrisers Hyderabad and away to Gujarat Titans. The maths is simple. Win two of those three and 16 points should be plenty for a top-four place. Lose two and the season ends inside a fortnight. LSG, on six points and bottom of the table, were the first side knocked out of the playoff race after their loss at Chepauk on Sunday.
Overton-sized hole in the CSK bowling unit
The biggest CSK story going into the rematch is the one they cannot fix. Jamie Overton, named Player of the Match last time out, has been ruled out of the rest of the season with a thigh injury and has flown back to the UK for further assessment. He leaves Chennai with 14 wickets from 10 games, comfortably their most consistent bowler this year, and a middle-overs breakthrough specialist they cannot replicate.
CSK have signed South African all-rounder Dian Forrester as Overton’s official replacement. The other choice is to lean harder into spin on a Lucknow pitch that has rewarded it all season. Noor Ahmad and Rahul Chahar will be central either way, with Akeal Hosein in the mix as the second left-arm option.
Dhoni stays back but Samson keeps the gloves
MS Dhoni has not played a minute for CSK this season because of a calf injury, and Sanju Samson has been the first-choice wicketkeeper-batter in his place. The news this week is that Dhoni is back at full nets but has opted out of travelling to Lucknow, cooling the latest round of "will he, won't he" coverage. CSK have kept his return strictly day-by-day, with the management deliberately refusing to put a date on him.
For now, Samson keeps the role he has filled since the opener. Ruturaj Gaikwad has carried the batting through the back half of the season with 293 runs at a strike rate of 124 and two half-centuries in 11 innings. Behind him, Dewald Brevis and Shivam Dube have rebuilt around Urvil Patel's emergence. The 13-ball fifty he hit against this same LSG attack last week is the kind of innings that gets talked about for years.
A Lucknow surface that flips the equation
The trickier part of the trip is the venue. Ekana has been a slow, low strip all season, first-innings scores tend to sit in the 160 to 175 band, and the bigger square boundaries reward spinners and back-of-a-length seam. CSK chased 204 at Chepauk last week, but they will not be defending or chasing anywhere near those numbers in Lucknow.
That dynamic also gives LSG their one real chance. Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram have produced their best hands in low-scoring scenarios, and a slow Ekana surface narrows the gap between two teams that are six points apart on paper. Marsh's 627-run haul last season is the kind of pedigree LSG have been waiting on him to rediscover. Pant's side will play a pride match. They have also leaked several costly catches this season, and the fielding standards Pant himself called out post-Chepauk are the simplest fix on the to-do list before the off-season.
What CSK actually need from Friday
A win locks in two more points and almost certainly takes them within touching distance of a playoff spot with two games to play. A loss would put the equation on the trip to the Modi to face a Gujarat side currently joint-top of the table, where any team will struggle right now. The five-time champions know which one they prefer.
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