Gujarat Titans will be aiming to end their group stage campaign on a high note as they take on CSK in the final IPL 2026 league fixture, before playing in the playoffs. Shubman Gill and co. have already qualified for the playoffs and are currently placed second on the points table. A mammoth win on Thursday against CSK could power GT to the top of the points table with a boosted net run-rate, which will increase their chances of playing in Qualifier 1.
GT will be playing their last league fixture at their home ground – the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The venue is known to favour pacers more than spinners. Therefore, Shubman will be eyeing to go with just one specialist spinner and bring back Prasidh Krishna into the line-up.
Predicted GT playing XI vs CSK
Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (C), Jos Buttler (wk), Nishant Sindhu, Washington Sundar, Rahul Tewatia, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Arshad Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj
After having a phenomenal season in 2025, Sai Kishore has played just two matches in IPL 2026, warming the bench in the majority of the tournament. He is expected to be shunted out of the playing XI once again for GT’s encounter against CSK. Last year’s Purple Cap winner Krishna is expected to replace him in the line-up, thereby bolstering GT’s pace attack.
In 8 matches that Prasidh has played in IPL 2026 so far, he has taken 14 wickets at an economy rate of 10.06. He will spearhead the pace attack for the side, along with Siraj, Rabada and Holder. Jason Holder has been phenomenal for GT with the ball in this season, having picked up 13 wickets from 7 matches. While he has been expensive, the Caribbean all-rounder has also been GT’s go-to man to get crucial wickets.
Given the nature of the surface in Ahmedabad, GT will be expected to field just one specialist spinner in the form of Rashid Khan, while Washington Sundar will play second fiddle. However, the latter is highly unlikely to bowl in the contest.
Batting has arguably been GT’s strong suit in this season as well, and the onus will once again be on the top-three – Gill, Sai Su and Buttler – to go all guns blazing against CSK. Sai Sudharsan and Gill have 554 runs and 552 runs each to their names, respectively in IPL 2026, are on the list of top-five leading run-getters in the tournament.
