The Chennai Super Kings concluded their IPL 2026 season with just six wins out of 14 games and missed out on the playoff spot losing by 89 runs to Gujarat Titans. The outcome summed up the entire narrative of their season. CSK were just not good enough except for the 2 crucial games that they lost to KKR and MI. The team appeared to be out of rhythm after losing their first three franchise-opponents Rajasthan Royals, Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers, Bengaluru. Batting fraternity appeared inconsistent and the bowling line-up lacked control. Nonetheless CSK revived their season by winning six out of their last 11 games and staged a comeback in the middle of the tournament. Yet there was a time when qualification appeared to be a possibility. By the campaign totally crashed in the last week. Lucknow supergiants chased 188 in 16.4 overs while against them then chased 181 at Chepauk and Gujarat tiatransquickly improved 229/4 and then later went on to win the game by 89 runs. Three losses and CSK was out of the season. They revealed cracks in their armor. Cheap Signings Saved CSK's Season Surprisingly a lot of the lower-priced players turned out to be the strongest contributors in CSK's campaign. Jamie Overton, Anshul Kamboj, Ayush Mhatre, Urvil Patel and Akeal Hosein all contributed significantly during the season and were valuable, key players. Overton transformed under hammer prices to one of the most successful CSK returns. Kamboj was always there and Mishra with ball, was as good as any player we have. Mhatre and Urvil played well above their expectations from rookies and cheapies. These players are to hav been there to hold the core of the campaign up, not walked the entire way while the core is held up. The likes of a few costly players didn’t live up to the billing. Dube, Ahmad, Chahar, Khaleel were all below par. Noor Ahmad, who bowled all the league-stage games, failed to hold up overs in the middle overs on most occasions even though he was an expensive spin buy for the franchise. Had some good spells with the bowling attack, but lacked consistency when the best batsman to face late season. Also Read | LSG vs PBKS Match 68 Result: Who Won Yesterday’s IPL Match? Full Highlights & Awards Ruturaj's Captaincy Strong, Batting Underwhelming In the middle phase of the season Captain Ruturaj Gaikwad stood like a lighthouse and saved the team. An unsung hero who led an arduous season. However his batting did not live up to the hype. He was an 18 crore best-order batsman in terms ofhim lasting the whole game [and] helping out the middle-order. He didn't really. The most significant one was when he hit 15 runs in 21 balls in a must-win game against SRH when we lost the match. Sanju Samson brought some fireworks and was the strongest batsman in the CSK camp, but the team around him was very fragile. To be quite frankly one team often relied on individual brilliance instead of consistent team efforts. Ultimately, season by the end was one of imbalance for CSK. Those who were reported to be the cheaper signings and did well, and the more senior and expensive players faltered considerably when it was most required. Apart from that the season seems not too bad financially but on the pitch CSK was unable to convert hopes into playoffs