Chennai Super Kings beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 4 wickets with 3 balls to spare in IPL 2026 Match 22 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai — a classic Chepauk chase shaped by Sunil Narine's 47 off 28, Matheesha Pathirana's 3/24 at the death, and MS Dhoni's unbeaten 38 off 19 to finish the game. Below: the scorecard, the three moments that flipped the match, the captain grades, and the Dream11 retro.

The scorecard headline

Kolkata Knight Riders: 174/8 in 20 overs (Sunil Narine 47, Ajinkya Rahane 41, Rinku Singh 32; Pathirana 3/24, Theekshana 2/29)
Chennai Super Kings: 178/6 in 19.3 overs (Sanju Samson 56, MS Dhoni 38*, Ruturaj Gaikwad 34; Varun Chakravarthy 2/27, Harshit Rana 2/35)
Result: CSK won by 4 wickets. Live scorecard archive

The win moves CSK into the top-four scrap on the IPL 2026 points table and pushes KKR into a corner — they have now lost three of their last four games at venues away from Eden Gardens.

Playing XIs

CSK: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Devon Conway, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja is NOT at CSK this season — he's at Rajasthan Royals (see GT vs RR squad analysis). Mitchell Santner, Maheesh Theekshana, Matheesha Pathirana, Mukesh Choudhary, Tushar Deshpande.

KKR: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Sunil Narine, Finn Allen, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell is retired — KKR's finisher slot now belongs to Rinku and Raghuvanshi. Venkatesh Iyer, Lockie Ferguson, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Vaibhav Arora.

For the full squad context, see Chennai Super Kings squad analysis and Kolkata Knight Riders squad analysis.

Top batting performers

Batter	Team	Runs	Balls	4s	6s	SR
Sanju Samson	CSK	56	38	6	2	147.4
Sunil Narine	KKR	47	28	5	3	167.9
Ajinkya Rahane	KKR	41	32	4	1	128.1
MS Dhoni	CSK	38*	19	2	4	200.0
Ruturaj Gaikwad	CSK	34	27	4	1	125.9
Rinku Singh	KKR	32	21	3	1	152.4

Top bowling performers

Bowler	Team	O	R	W	Econ
Matheesha Pathirana	CSK	4	24	3	6.0
Maheesh Theekshana	CSK	4	29	2	7.3
Varun Chakravarthy	KKR	4	27	2	6.8
Harshit Rana	KKR	4	35	2	8.8
Mitchell Santner	CSK	4	33	1	8.3

Three turning points that flipped the match

1. Pathirana's 18th over — KKR collapse from 152/4 to 158/7

KKR were cruising at 152/4 in 17.2 overs. Pathirana came back for his death spell and removed Rinku Singh (slower yorker), Venkatesh Iyer (off-cutter, leading edge) and Harshit Rana (toe-crusher) in seven balls. KKR scored only 22 runs off the last 18 balls — that was the difference between a 195-par total and the eventual 174.

2. Samson's middle-overs counter against Varun Chakravarthy

Sanju Samson, opening with Conway in Dhoni's old slot, took the mystery-spin matchup head-on — 18 runs off Varun's second over, including a slog-swept six over deep midwicket. Reading Varun on a Chepauk surface that was gripping by the 8th over was the single-biggest individual call of the night. See why Chepauk is the toughest spin venue in IPL.

3. Dhoni's 19th over — 22 off Russell's replacement (Vaibhav Arora)

CSK needed 28 off 12. Rahane went to Vaibhav Arora instead of saving Harshit Rana for the last over. Dhoni hit 6, 4, 2, 6, 4 off the first five balls — game effectively over. With Russell retired, KKR no longer have a 145kph death-overs option, and Rahane's captaincy choice exposed it.

Captain grades

Ruturaj Gaikwad (CSK): A — held back Pathirana's fourth over till the 18th, used Theekshana's left-arm-spin matchup against Rinku, gave Samson the licence to open. Clean, modern T20 captaincy.
Ajinkya Rahane (KKR): C+ — bowled out Varun by the 16th, left Harshit Rana's last over for the 20th instead of the 19th when CSK needed 28 off 12. Classic mid-innings captaincy mistake — the kind discussed in IPL captaincy mistakes that cost finals.

Dream11 retro — who paid off

Pick	Points	Verdict
MS Dhoni (C)	81	Captain pick paid off — 38* + 4 sixes + finishing six
Sanju Samson (VC)	78	Vice-captain on an opener doing the heavy lifting — chef's kiss
Matheesha Pathirana	67	3/24 + 8-point death-overs bonus
Sunil Narine	62	All-rounder ceiling — 47 + 1/29 with the ball
Varun Chakravarthy	38	2/27 floor — useful as a budget-saver

For the full strategy framework, see Dream11 captain picks strategy and Dream11 dew-factor captaincy.

Points-table impact

CSK: climb to 4th with 8 points and a NRR boost from +0.18 to +0.31.
KKR: drop to 8th with 6 points and NRR slips from +0.05 to −0.09 — they are now on the wrong side of the playoff cut-off.

Full standings: IPL 2026 points table and mid-season analysis.

What this means going forward

CSK: Dhoni at No. 5/6 with Samson at the top is the best top-six balance they've had in three seasons. Pathirana's death-overs ceiling is back to 2024 levels.
KKR: the post-Russell finisher gap is real. Rinku Singh has to bat at No. 4, not No. 5 — the math doesn't work otherwise. Their next two fixtures are must-wins.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who won CSK vs KKR Match 22 of IPL 2026?

Chennai Super Kings won by 4 wickets with 3 balls to spare, chasing 175 at MA Chidambaram Stadium.

Who was Player of the Match?

MS Dhoni — 38 not out off 19 balls, including 22 off the 19th over to seal the chase.

What was Sunil Narine's contribution?

Narine top-scored for KKR with 47 off 28 (5x4, 3x6) opening the innings, but couldn't fully convert. With the ball he went wicketless for 29 in 4 overs.

How did Pathirana turn the match for CSK?

Pathirana's 18th over removed Rinku, Venkatesh Iyer and Harshit Rana — KKR went from 152/4 to 158/7 and finished 174 instead of a par 195.

Best Dream11 captain pick from this match?

MS Dhoni (81 points) — the chase-finisher captaincy paid off. Sanju Samson at vice-captain (78 points) was the second-best return.

How does this result affect the IPL 2026 points table?

CSK climbed to 4th with 8 points; KKR dropped to 8th with 6 points and now sit below the playoff cut-off line.

The takeaway

Dhoni at 44 still finds the gap that no one else sees. Bookmark the IPL 2026 points table, schedule, and Dream11 tools. CricJosh refreshes every hub after every match — no stale data.