Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], May 17 (ANI): Chennai Super Kings (CSK) pacer Spencer Johnson said that the team will take advantage of playing at home against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 clash on Monday.

The CSK-SRH clash is a vital one for both teams. SRH currently sit third on the points table with 14 points from their campaign and two league matches remaining, while CSK are placed sixth with 12 points and also have two games left to play.

A victory over CSK would move SRH a step closer to securing a playoff berth, and wins in both of their remaining matches will guarantee qualification without depending on other results. For CSK, the scenario is straightforward -- they must win both remaining fixtures and then hope other results work in their favour.

SRH's opening pair of Head and Abhishek have been one of the biggest factors in SRH's current standing in the top four in the points table of the IPL 2026 season so far. Both batters have been involved in four fifty-plus opening stands and two century partnerships. While Abhishek has scored 481 runs in 12 innings at an average of 43.72 and a strike rate of 209.13, Head has made 361 runs in 12 innings at an average of 30.08 and a strike rate of 171.09.

Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Spencer Johnson emphasised the importance of the powerplay, saying teams may not win the match there but can certainly lose it.

He acknowledged Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma as world-class players and said the team has prepared specific plans to counter them. He also noted that playing at home could be an advantage because of the extra bounce in the pitch, adding that their left-arm pace attack could play a key role.

'I think power play is so important for any team, with the bat or ball. I feel like you don't win it in the power play, but you can definitely lose it. We obviously want to start well; they're (Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma) two world-class players. So, we'll do our research on them. We're playing them at home, so I feel like we've got the advantage there. It can be a little bit more bouncier than what they're used to in Hyderabad, so we'll use that to our advantage. We've got our tactics that we'll bring out tomorrow, we've got lots of left-armers to swing it away, so we're excited for the challenge,' Spencer Johnson said.

Johnson said it is a special experience representing Chennai Super Kings and praised the incredible support from fans, both at home and away games. He also described seeing MS Dhoni around training as a surreal moment and expressed gratitude for the passionate backing the team receives everywhere. Speaking about whether Dhoni, who is yet to feature in the playing 11 for CSK, is going to play in the SRH clash, Johnson said he has no idea.

'Well obviously it's a privilege to play for CSK and the amount of fans that come and travel and come to these home games, it's unbelievable and I've never experienced anything like that in my life so that's probably partly to do with MS (Dhoni), I'm not sure when he's playing or I've got no idea but just seeing him around training is a bit of a surreal moment so yeah, very grateful for the fans that come out every game, whether it's home or away, it feels like a home game so it's pretty special,' Johnson said. (ANI)