The seventeenth season of the IPL will kick start tomorrow with a mouth watering contest. The curtain raiser features two of the most storied franchises in the IPL taking on each other. Ruturaj Gaikward’s (yes you read that right) Chennai Super Kings will be all set to take on the Faf Du Plessis lead Royal Challengers Bengaluru. The fixture promises to feature two of the megastars of the tournament. Thala, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the King, Virat Kohli.
Tomorrow’s fixture will be a return game for Virat Kohli as he picks up the bat and hits the ground after a break of nearly two months. Kohli had opted out of England’s tour of India due to personal reasons and had to miss the test series. It was later understood that Virat Kohli had to opt out because he and his better half, Anushka Sharma were expecting a child. On the 15th of February, 2024, the couple welcomed their baby boy to the world when India was playing a test match at Rajkot.
On the other hand, M.S. Dhoni will be playing in the Chennai yellow nearly after 10 months as he was last seen in action in the finale of IPL 2023 against the Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium at Ahmedabad. While the audiences are speculating this to be Dhoni’s farewell season, it is very much difficult to predict what exactly is going to happen. Dhoni, even at the age of 42 possesses such great level of fitness that may even leave a 24 year old awestruck.
The match between the Chennai Super Kings and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru is to be held at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk in Chennai. A sea of yellow will be ready blowing their whistles and rooting for their favorite team on the top of their lungs. RCB and CSK have battled it out against each other at Chepauk for the 8 times in the past. RCB only has had an upper hand once against CSK at the Chepauk, back in 2008. This might be a great opportunity for the men in red to open their season with a win and of course to spoil Chennai’s party.
The Sportz Planet desk,
Atharva Shetye.
