Chennai Super Kings’ batting coach Michael Hussey admitted that the early wickets against Rajasthan Royals on Saturday derailed their plans right at the start. It turned into a poor opening outing for the five-time champions in IPL 2026, as they were bowled out for just 127 and suffered a heavy defeat with 7.5 overs to spare at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati. Coming off a disappointing campaign last season, where they finished at the bottom, CSK had reshuffled their squad, bringing in Sanju Samson in a high-profile trade involving Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran. However, the new-look batting unit failed to click, especially after losing key wickets in the powerplay. In the absence of MS Dhoni, much of the responsibility for providing impetus rested on Shivam Dube, but the middle order never quite recovered from the early setbacks.
Hussey explained the thinking behind holding Shivam Dube back in the batting order, pointing to match-ups and game situations. He highlighted how early wickets forced a change in plans, while also backing the younger players to step up when the team needed them most.
“Ideally speaking, we’d love him to come in through those middle overs when we’ve set a good platform, the spinners are on, because we know how damaging he can be against the spinners. And so when we lost those early wickets against the pace bowlers, it was a good opportunity for Kartik to go in. He’s a fine young player, and I think he’s going to be a star of the future. And so, yeah, we just basically wanted to keep Dube back a little bit, so we could try and maximise his efforts against the spinners,” Hussey said in the post-match presentation.
“Ravindra Jadeja won the battle today”: Michael Hussey
Meanwhile, Jadeja came back to haunt CSK in his first outing against them after the move to the Royals. The veteran all-rounder picked up a couple of wickets, including the key scalp of Dube, and capped it off with a fiery send-off.
Hussey acknowledged that the battle didn’t go CSK’s way this time, tipping his hat to Jadeja while backing Dube to bounce back stronger in their next face-off.
“Unfortunately, today, it didn’t quite come off. Jadeja is a wily character. He’s been around a long time, and it was a clever piece of bowling. But, yeah, unfortunately, Jadeja won the battle today, but hopefully Dube can win it next time,” Hussey added.
