The defending champions Chennai Super Kings will take on Royal Challengers Bangalore in the opening match of the IPL 2024 at M Chidabaram Stadium in Chepauk on March 22, Sunday.
CSK and RCB will face off each other for the 32nd time in the history of IPL. In their last 31 encounters, Chennai Super Kings have emerged victorious 20 times while Royal Challengers Bangalore won only 10 occasions. CSK and RCB face off have often grabbed headlines given their history of rivalries in the IPL.
Ahead of IPL 2024 opener, Chennai Super Kings pulled off a big surprise by announcing the change in captaincy. Legendary skipper MS Dhoni handed over captaincy duties to Ruturaj Gaikwad, who has been associated with the five-time IPL champions since 2019. Gaikwad is the third captain for CSK for Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja.
CSK will miss the services of Devon Conway and Matheesha Pathirana in their opening match of the tournament against RCB. Conway is ruled out of half of IPL 2024 due to a thumb injury while Pathirana will miss the start of the tournament due to a hamstring injury.
For Royal Challengers Bangalore, all the players are available for the selection for the opening match against Chennai Super Kings. Virat Kohli is expected to grab the headlines as he will return to action after being away from professional cricket for more than two months due to birth of his second child, a son Akaay in London.
Faf du Plessis will be leading RCB for the third consecutive IPL season. Under his captaincy, Royal Challengers Bangalore reached the playoffs once in 2022 but lost to Rajasthan Royals in the Qualifier 2. In the last season, Bengaluru-based team failed to qualify for knockouts after finishing sixth in the league stage of the tournament.
When to watch opening match between CSK vs RCB?
The IPL 2024 opener between Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore will take place at 8 pm, with the toss happening at 7:30 pm.
Where to watch IPL 2024 opener between CSK vs RCB?
The opening match of IPL 2024 between Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore will be live telecasted on Star Sports Network. Those who prefer the match on OTT can watch it on jiocinema.com or Jio Cinema app.
