Mohammad Kaif Advises Chennai Super Kings Against Making Sanju Samson Captain

Mohammad Kaif has given some simple advice for the Chennai Super Kings ahead of IPL 2026. He has said that Sanju Samson should not be made captain right now. He thinks that if Samson has to bat and captain in the same season, it could be too much pressure on him, which might negatively impact his batting.

Samson has previously captained the Rajasthan Royals. Under his captaincy, the team has gone into the finals, but they were unable to lift the trophy. Before the IPL 2026 auction, Samson was sold by the Royals to the Chennai Super Kings in return for Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran.

Since his arrival in Chennai, Samson has been strengthening the team's batting, and discussions about him becoming captain have intensified. Although Ruturaj Gaikwad captained the team last season, the team's performance was not as expected. Meanwhile, Kaif stated on his YouTube channel that Chennai should avoid making hasty decisions and should allow Samson to play freely as an opening batsman.

Chennai Super Kings will play their first match in IPL 2026 against Rajasthan Royals on March 30th. The match will be played at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati.

So far, only the schedule for the 20 initial matches of this season has been announced, in which all 10 teams, including the Chennai Super Kings, will play only four matches each. Chennai's first match will be on March 30th, while in the second match, they will take on the Punjab Kings. This match will be played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. After this, the Chennai team will travel to Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy Stadium, where they will face Royal Challengers Bangalore. This match will be played on April 5th.

On April 11th, Chennai will take on Delhi Capitals at their home ground. Let us tell you that during this period, all four matches of the Chennai Super Kings will start at 7:30 pm.