The much-awaited 17th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is finally underway. Reigning champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will lock horns in a delightful first tournament at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
The local team begins a new journey and the match against RCB will mark the beginning. CSK will be led by Ruturaj Gaikwad for the first time in their history as MS Dhoni has relinquished the captaincy. On Thursday (March 21), the franchise announced that Gaikwad replaced Dhoni as the team’s captain.
This is the second time Dhoni has resigned as CSK captain and the franchise is desperately hoping it works out this time. In 2022, Dhoni had handed over the captaincy to Ravindra Jadeja but it didn’t work out. CSK lost six of their first eight matches before Jadeja resigned as captain. The Chennai-based team finished the season in ninth place with just four wins in 14 matches.
On the other hand, Faf du Plessis would continue to lead the Bengaluru-based team. Having failed to qualify for the playoffs last season, RCB would be desperate to do well this year and would be eager to get off to a positive start.
CSK vs RCB: List of impact players:
CSK Impact Players: Shaik Rasheed, Nishant Sindhu, Moeen Ali, Shardul Thakur and Shivam Dube
RCB Impact Players: Yash Dayal, Suyash Prabhudessai, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Akash Deep and Swapnil Singh
Talking about the game, RCB captain Faf du Plessis won the toss and opted to bat first.
“We will bat first. Looks like a good wicket, the conditions here are a batting first wicket. It’s my first time back here, it’s great to see the Chennai fans again, but I’m here with RCB and I hope we can form a very good CSK team. The preparation has been good, we have to present ourselves now. An experienced activist brings that experience,” du Plessis said.
On the other hand, Gaikwad said: “Feel privileged. But I want to try to be in my place, not take anyone’s place. I came to know about it last week, but Mahi bhai hinted about it last year. Everyone has experience here, unfortunately we are missing Conway and Pathirana. But we have Rachin and Mitchell coming in.”