The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season all set for kickoff as defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) will raise the roofs with grand curtain-raiser. The opening match will see two greats of the game, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli go head-to-head while Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis wear the captain’s armband. Ahead of the contest, Du Plessis opened up on the Dhoni-Virat involvement in the opening match and why it will be the key attraction.

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Game Day, RCB v CSK, Preview: It’s a blockbuster opening to this new chapter in the RCB heritage. Coach, Captain and his Comrades are geared up, and keen to begin the season Bold! 💪

Watch the preview on @bigbasket_com presents Game Day. Download the Big Basket App for more…… pic.twitter.com/gntW9kHz2n

— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) March 22, 2024

Faf highlights Dhoni-Virat attraction

ALSO READ | IPL 2024: Ruturaj Gaikwad reveals MS Dhoni told him to ‘be ready’ for CSK captaincy in 2023

“It has been a really great week, Andy and Mo have done some incredible things. We really gel together as a squad, so it has been good preparation. Obviously, what better way can you start the IPL, than the game you have tomorrow, two of India’s greatest – MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli in the opening match of the IPL, so everyone is just excited for the game,” Faf said in a video released by RCB.

Friday’s meeting will be a special occasion for Virat and Dhoni, who remain one of the seven players to have played in every season of the IPL. While Dhoni will be in his 15th season with CSK as he remains the only player to play every season for the franchise. Similarly, Virat will be in his 17th season with RCB and remains the only one-club player to have played every season of IPL.

Both Dhoni and Virat played in the CSK vs RCB meeting in the inaugural season of the IPL, which to date remains the only time Bengaluru beat Chennai at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium. The match will start at 7:30 PM with the toss taking place at 7:00 PM. The opening ceremony will start at 6:00 PM with star names including AR Rahman to perform.

CSK IPL 2024 Squad

MS Dhoni (wk), Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar, Devon Conway (wk), Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajay Mandal, Mukesh Choudhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Mitchell Santner, Simarjeet Singh, Nishant Sindhu, Prashant Solanki, Matheesha Theekshana, Rachin Ravindra, Shardul Thakur, Daryl Mitchell, Sameer Rizvi, Mustafizur Rahman, Avanish Rao Aravelly

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