Abhinav Mukund picks CSK’s opening pair for IPL 2026

Former Indian batter Abhinav Mukund has backed Chennai Super Kings’ to open with Sanju Samson and Ayush Mhatre in IPL 2026. While Samson is in rich form in the recent past, Mhatre had impressed in his maiden IPL 2025 season.

Mhatre scored 240 runs in seven matches of IPL 2025 at an average of 34.29 and a blistering strike rate of 188.97.

On the other hand, Samson returned with scores of 97(50), 89(42), and 89(46) in the virtual quarterfinals, semifinal and final of the T20 World Cup, respectively. The right-hander was awarded Player of the tournament after he scored 321 runs in five matches at an average of 80.25 and a strike rate of 199.38.

Abhinav Mukund said on ESPN Cricinfo, “This is Ruturaj Gaikwad’s team. He wants these sort [aggressive] of players. Last couple of seasons, they’ve had the worst opening partnerships, worst powerplay scores. They were behind the eight ball in terms of how they started. I think the games changed to a powerplay game, where 60 is a bare minimum.”

“I think they’ve gone there and biggest thing to address is the opening pair and they’ve got Sanju before the auction. So, Sanju and Mhatre open for me. I still think Mhatre will be as explosive as ever. He opened for Mumbai. He struggled a little bit on the South African pitches. But, if you’ve got Mhatre in the side and Rutu wants to bat three, unfortunately, Urvil Patel misses out,” Mukund added.

Meanwhile, Sanju Samson was traded to CSK in exchange of Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran from Rajasthan Royals. Former CSK opener Faf du Plessis said it was an excellent trade.

Faf said, “I think it was an excellent trade. At the time, people were questioning it. Obviously, Jaddu being a stalwart of CSK, one of the icons… But, what Sanju brings for that team is a specialist batter that brings you a lot of runs. If you look throughout CSK’s history, opening partnerships have been a big part of their story.”

Meanwhile, Samson has scored 4704 runs in 177 IPL matches at an average of 177 and a strike rate of 139.04. 

CSK will begin their IPL 2026 campaign against the inaugural champions Rajasthan Royals, at Guwahati on 30th March.