In the 18th match of IPL 2026, Sanju Samson’s century dominated the entire match and kept the match exciting from the beginning. This match was played between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Delhi Capitals (DC) on 11 April at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. Sanju’s brilliant century in this match changed the fortunes of CSK. The team had not won a single match so far this season but Chennai finally registered its first win by defeating Delhi by 23 runs. This victory brought great relief to the team after three consecutive defeats.
CSK heaved a sigh of relief by winning the 18th match of IPL 2026. However, he still has a lot of hard work to do. This is because Chennai has won only one of its four matches and is currently at number 9 on the points table. Earlier, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) was in this position. At the same time, DC is fourth on the points table, having won two out of its four matches and losing two.
After losing the toss, CSK had to bat first but this decision backfired on Delhi and proved beneficial for Chennai. In the first 6 overs the team scored 61 runs without losing any wicket. After this, Chennai’s bat did not stop even in the middle overs and between 7 and 15 overs, the team added 99 runs by losing only 1 wicket. Then even in the death overs, the batsmen scored a lot of runs. In 16 to 20, CSK scored 52 runs losing 1 wicket. In this way, Chennai made a big score of 212 runs by losing only 2 wickets in 20 overs.
Sanju Samson batted brilliantly for CSK and scored unbeaten 115 runs in 56 balls. Apart from him, Ayush Mahatre also scored 59 runs but he retired out and returned to the pavilion. At the same time, the bowlers of Delhi Capitals were badly beaten. Team captain Akshar Patel was the only bowler who got a wicket. T Natarajan was hit the most, who spent 54 runs in his spell. Apart from this, lungi ngidi also proved to be quite expensive.
Delhi Capitals had a very good start while chasing the target. In the powerplay, the team had scored 66 runs after losing 2 wickets. After this, Delhi scored runs in the middle overs but could not stop the process of falling wickets. Between 7 and 15 overs, the team added 87 runs after losing 4 wickets. Then Chennai’s bowling was excellent in the death overs and Delhi did not get a chance to score runs freely. Between 16 and 20 overs, Delhi lost 4 wickets and could score only 36 runs. Ultimately, Delhi Capitals team was all out after scoring 189 runs in 20 overs and Chennai won the match by 23 runs.
For Delhi, Tristan Stubbs scored the highest score of 60 runs, while Pathum Nissanka added 41 runs. Apart from these, no batsman of Delhi Capitals could even cross the 20 run mark. On the other hand, Jamie Overton bowled brilliantly for CSK and took maximum 4 wickets. Anshul Kamboj took 3 wickets in his name. While Khalil Ahmed, Gurjapneet Singh and Noor Ahmed got 1-1 wicket.
