In a frustrating turn of events in the IPL 2026, five-time champions Chennai Super Kings have lost three games on the trot. In their latest outing, RCB hammered them by 43 runs to make things even worse. Chasing an enormous 251 against the RCB at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, the CSK faltered from the beginning itself and the batting unit just could not keep pace with the escalating required run rate. The batting collapse was one of the primary reasons for CSK’s failure in the chase. The side kept losing wickets early on in their pursuit of a massive total. Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson and Ayush Mhatre all departed for cheap scores, and even though Sarfaraz Khan put up a quickfire fifty, the right-handed batter could not stay at the crease long enough. The wickets continued to tumble one after the other as the CSK tried to accelerate the scoring. Although Prashant Veer offered a resilient 43 runs in the middle-order, a few big hits from Jamie Overton and an aggressive show by Veer couldn’t sustain their efforts and the wickets kept falling as the team faltered to a massive 207. How can CSK still qualify? The three straight losses in the tournament has put CSK in a dire situation. They had already suffered losses at the hands of Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings earlier in the season and they need to make a miraculous turnaround from this point. Generally, a team requires at least 16 to 18 points to qualify for the playoffs in IPL. As the Chennai Super Kings has already played three of its 14 league matches and with only 11 matches left, they will need to win at least eight of those matches to secure themselves in the race to qualify for the playoffs. However, that will be a gargantuan task given the form of other teams in the league and the batting frailties they have displayed. However, if the team is able to rectify their batting problems and manage to get some decent starts they could be back in contention. Also Read | Virat Kohli’s Top 5 Best Innings vs CSK in IPL History RCB's Record Breaking-Batting Display The RCB batters put up a stellar show to register the highest total in IPL 2026, a humongous 250/3 in 20 overs. Even though the team lost the dangerous Virat Kohli early in the innings for 28, they continued to build strong partnerships. The contribution of Devdutt Padikkal, who made a quick fifty, was crucial in building the foundation for a massive score, with Captain Rajat Patidar and Tim David dismantling the CSK bowlers in the death overs. In what can be termed as an annihilation, Tim David annihilated the bowlers from both ends to score a quickfire 70 off 25 balls, with Rajat Patidar scoring a blazing 48 off just 19 deliveries. In the final five overs alone, the pair added 97 runs, a testament to their fearless and aggressive approach. This allowed the RCB to post a monumental total, which the CSK bowlers could not restrict.