The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the remaining schedule of IPL 2024 on Monday, March 25. Earlier, the board only unveiled the first phase of the tournament as they were awaiting for dates of Lok Sabha Elections, which is slated to take place on April 19.
The phase 1 of IPL 2024 began on March 22, with the defending champions taking on Royal Challengers and ends on April 7, with CSK locking horns with Gujarat Titans. The second phase will start on April 8, with Ruturaj Gaikwad-led side will face off against Shreyas Iyer's Kolkata Knight Riders at Chepauk.
The league stage will end on May 19 and top 4 teams will qualify for the playoffs. The knockout stage will begin on May 21. The BCCI allocated Qualifier 1 and Eliminator to Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium while the Qualifier 2 and Final will be played at MA Chidambaram Stadium (Chepauk Stadium in Chennai).
MS Dhoni's old speech goes viral
After it has been announced that the IPL 2024 Final will take place in Chennai, an old video of former Chennai Super Kings' captain MS Dhoni has surfaced on social media, especially on X (formerly Twitter).
In a viral video on X, MS Dhoni gave an emotional speech at an event organized by Chennai Super Kings and India Cements in 2022, wherein the legendary wicketkeeper-batter stated that he is hoping to end his T20 career in Chennai.
"Chennai and Tamil Nadu talk about me a lot. Hopefully, my last T20 will be in Chennai." Dhoni said at an event.
MS Dhoni has been a stalwart of Chennai Super Kings since joining the team in 2008. Under the dynamic leadership of Dhoni, CSK won record five titles since 2010. Chennai Super Kings completed the milestone when they fifth IPL triumph by Gujarat Titans in IPL 2023. MS Dhoni led Yellow Brigade in 14 seasons, which is a record for a captain in the history of IPL.
After leading CSK to fifth IPL triumph, there were speculations that MS Dhoni played his last match of his T20 cricket. Howver, Dhoni said that he wanted to play one more IPL season as a gift to his fans who have been supporting him over the last several years.
