“It was an absolute brain-fade moment”

Former Team India batter Subramaniam Badrinath slammed the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for using the Impact Sub option early in the IPL 2026 clash against the Gujarat Titans (GT) on April 26. After being reduced to 25/2 in four overs, CSK seemingly pressed the panic button and subbed in Sarfaraz Khan to bat at No.4.

The move backfired badly as the right-hander was dismissed for a first-ball duck, leaving CSK in shambles at 26/3 in 4.4 overs. Sarfaraz’s substitution meant CSK could not use the extra bowler in the second innings, defending 158.

Talking about CSK’s Impact Sub usage against GT, Badrinath said on his YouTube channel (5:40):

“Urvil Patel and Sarfaraz Khan are like-to-like batters, and you send them back-to-back. When Rabada is bowling at high speeds, you send the two batters you shouldn’t, back to back. It was an absolute brain-fade moment. They’ve made several other blunders like this throughout the season, namely not playing Akeal Hosein from the start or not bowling Prashant Veer when he played.”

He continued:

“This entire season has been full of tactical blunders for CSK, to the point where there can be a video separately just for that. How can you bring an Impact Player as a batter in the first four overs? It was stupidity when you still had Brevis, Dube, Kartik Sharma, and Overton. Why don’t you give these guys a chance? Instead, you bring in Sarfaraz Khan and rule Mukesh Choudhary out so early.”

GT comfortably chased down 158 against a one-short CSK bowling attack, winning by eight wickets with 20 balls to spare.

“CSK are underutilising it badly” – S Badrinath

Subramaniam Badrinath believes CSK are way behind the rest of the league in Impact Sub usage and batting tempo. The Men in Yellow are staring at a third consecutive first-round exit with only three wins in eight matches.

“Other teams are using the Impact player rule brilliantly and scoring 50 to 60 extra runs. Here, CSK are underutilising it badly. CSK were at 50 in 12 overs when other teams are at 170 to 180 at the same stage,” said Badrinath (via the aforementioned source).

CSK will take on arch-rivals Mumbai Indians (MI) in their next encounter in Chennai on Saturday, May 2.