Injury woes continue to plague the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) as Dewald Brevis has been ruled out of the team's IPL 2026 opener against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Guwahati on Monday (March 30). The South African batter picked up a side strain during training, ruling him out of CSK's first game.

Head coach Stephen Fleming confirmed the development in the pre-match press conference on the eve of the clash. It is unclear whether Brevis will be fit for CSK's second game - at home against Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Friday (April 3) - but the franchise remains hopeful that he will recover quickly.

This is the second major injury blow that the Super Kings have been dealt with over the weekend. With MS Dhoni picking up a calf strain, he is likely to miss the first two weeks of IPL 2026. Cricbuzz understands Dhoni has not travelled with the team to Guwahati.

In addition to this, seamer Nathan Ellis was earlier ruled out of the tournament due to a hamstring injury. His replacement, Spencer Johnson, is working his way back from a back stress injury himself and will join the squad somewhere between April 21 and 23.

Brevis was signed as a mid-season injury replacement for pacer Gurjapneet Singh last year and emerged as a silver lining in an otherwise torrid season for CSK. The middle-order batter tallied 225 runs from six games at an average of 37.50 and a strike-rate of 180 in IPL 2025.