Defending IPL champions Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore will lock horns in the IPL 2024 season opener at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday.
The spotlight will be huge on the opening clash after MS Dhoni relinquished the CSK captaincy on the eve of the match, passing the reins over to Ruturaj Gaikwad. Virat Kohli will mark his return to competitive cricket after he missed the home Test series against England.
The match will also define a new era as it would be the first CSK-RCB clash in over a decade where Dhoni and Kohli will not step out as captains.
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CSK and RCB met once before in an IPL season opener, featuring in the first match of the IPL 2019 edition, also played in Chennai.
Dhoni won the toss and opted to field against Kohli’s men. CSK then bundled a stacked RCB lineup for 70 in 17.1 overs. Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh shone bright on a tacky Chepauk pitch, dismissing key batters Kohli, Moeen Ali and AB de Villiers on single-digit scores. Dhoni constricted RCB further with spin as Imran Tahir and Ravindra Jadeja picked up five wickets between them.
In reply, CSK too struggled to get going, scraping past a meagre 71-run target in 18 overs during an eventual seven-wicket win. Harbhajan was adjudged the Player of the Match in what was CSK and RCB’s last meeting in Chennai.
The CSK-RCB rivalry has been a rather one-sided over the years with the Super Kings winning in 21 of their 31 meetings. Their record in Chennai too is supremely commanding, with seven wins over RCB in eight meetings. RCB’s only win against CSK at Chepauk came way back in the inaugural season where they registered a 14-run win.
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