Chennai, May 10 (IANS) An unchanged Chennai Super Kings have won the toss and elected to bowl first against Lucknow Super Giants in match 53 of IPL 2026 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Sunday.

A win for CSK, ranked sixth in points table, will help them strengthen their chances of entering the playoffs, while bottom-placed LSG arrive after snapping their six-game losing streak with a nine-run win over defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

After winning the toss, CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad said the pitch has been under covers and with rain around, it was not a tough decision to bowl first on a red soil pitch. “The wicket was under covers and there was rain around. The pitch does behave differently in day games, but we need to adapt well and then restrict them to a low score. Pretty positive on the way the last 7-8 games have gone for us. It’s been a good turnaround and we’ll look to stay positive,” he said.

LSG captain Rishabh Pant said Josh Inglis and Avesh Khan come into the playing eleven in place of Arshin Kulkarni and Mayank Yadav. “We would have bowled first as well. We need to win all games, but we must be consistent and play some good cricket. We have had our moments and chances, but we didn’t finish it. We have to give 200% in every game,” he said.

Playing XIs:

Chennai Super Kings: Sanju Samson (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad (captain), Urvil Patel, Kartik Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, Jamie Overton, Akeal Hosein, Anshul Kamboj, Noor Ahmed, and Mukesh Choudhary

Impact Substitutes: Gurjapneet Singh, Prashant Veer, Matthew Short, Sarfaraz Khan, and Akash Madhwal

Lucknow Super Giants: Mitchell Marsh, Josh Inglis, Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant (captain & wk), Aiden Markram, Akshat Raghuwanshi, Himmat Singh, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mohammed Shami, Prince Yadav, and Digvesh Rathi

Impact Substitutes: Mukul Choudhary, Avesh Khan, Abdul Samad, M Siddharth, and Mayank Yadav

–IANS

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