The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) might be off to a dark and gloomy start to the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season, losing the first three matches, but there remain a few players who have shown their worth to the franchise. While it was Ayush Mhatre who lit up the stadium the last time, Sarfaraz Khan did so in the match against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Sunday. Sarfaraz, widely considered a red-ball player, smashed a brilliant 50 off 25 balls, prompting even Virat Kohli to stand up and laud his performance.
Sarfaraz scored a blazing half-century after CSK lost their top three batters – Sanju Samson, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Mhatre – for single-digit scores. The middle-order batter was eventually undone by spinner Krunal Pandya. However, as Sarfaraz was walking back to the CSK dugout, he received a shoutout from Kohli, who clapped for the batter, acknowledging his effort.
The video of Kohli lauding Sarfaraz won the hearts of fans, with the RCB stalwart’s gesture proving he never fails to push young talent forward, even if they are in the opponent’s team.
— (@Mamtasulaniya) April 5, 2026
After the game, CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad also hailed Sarfaraz and a few other cameos in the middle order as the franchise crossed the 200-run mark while chasing the target of 251.
“Well, even I was surprised, to be honest. Great fight by Sarfaraz, Prashant Veer, Jamie Overton, even to some extent Shivam Dube. So I think, maybe I would have contributed more top of the order, you never know, we would have chased it down. So definitely it’s on me today,” he said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
“We would have had, as you rightly said, if we would have taken the early chance of Virat Kohli, I think that was, I mean, maybe we would have had momentum to ourselves. But I think, we still had the game in our hands till the 13th, 14th over, and that’s when the momentum really shifted,” he further said.
The defeat against RCB earned CSK an unwanted feat as the streak is now the franchise’s second-longest to kick off an IPL season. They had started their 2022 campaign with four straight defeats.