Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], May 18 (ANI): Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have won the toss and elected to bat first against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their high-voltage Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 'Southern Derby' clash on Monday evening.

The five-time champions CSK are hosting the Hyderabad-based franchise at the iconic MA Chidambaram Stadium. Earlier in the ongoing season, SRH secured a close 10-run win over the Super Kings at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.

During the toss, CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad revealed that legendary wicketkeeper-batter MS Dhoni is not fit enough to play against SRH.

'We are looking to bat first. Looking a bit dry, and we want to put up a good total. Even the last game against MI, it wasn't the best of wickets to bat on. Nothing complicated, and we want to keep it simple. MS Dhoni is still here, but he is not fit enough to play this game. We have one change,' CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad said during the toss.

After losing the toss, SRH skipper Pat Cummins confirmed that they are playing with the same team.

'It's T20 cricket, and it's not easy every game. He knows it's not going to work every game. We would have probably wanted to bowl. Same team as the last game,' SRH captain Pat Cummins said.

Teams:

Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Sanju Samson(w), Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Urvil Patel, Kartik Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, Prashant Veer, Akeal Hosein, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Spencer Johnson.

Chennai Super Kings (Impact Players): Mukesh Choudhary, Matthew Short, Sarfaraz Khan, Aman Khan, Gurjapneet Singh.Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan(w), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, Smaran Ravichandran, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins(c), Shivang Kumar, Eshan Malinga, Sakib Hussain, Praful Hinge.

Sunrisers Hyderabad (Impact Players): Travis Head, Liam Livingstone, Aniket Verma, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel. (ANI)