PREVIEW
The 17th edition of the IPL is here, and the fans can’t wait for the two-month long extravaganza to begin. Ten franchises will go head-to-head and will give their absolutely everything to have a shot at winning the coveted title. The first game of the tournament will see five-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) take on Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the M.A Chidambaram stadium in Chennai.
Chennai Super Kings hate to make changes to their squad and playing XI and have gradually replaced some of their key players with a few young guns. The retirement of Ambati Rayudu and the over-dependence on Deepak Chahar as the primary Indian fast bowler were two of the main concerns for the franchise ahead of the auctions. They brought in the experienced Shardul Thakur to support Chahar in the bowling department. They also roped in youngsters like Rachin Ravindra and Sameer Rizvi for the batting. The side would be hoping to produce yet another stunning campaign and maybe give their skipper, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, a fitting farewell.
It was yet another season of chopping and changing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore as they splashed the cash on overseas bowlers after releasing virtually 70% of their bowling unit prior to the 2024 Auctions. They added the likes of Lockie Ferguson, Alzarri Joseph, and Tom Curran to the squad. The franchise also roped in Australian all-rounder Cameron Green for INR 16.50 crore which had also raised some eyebrows amongst the fans. But will these changes result in a change in fortune for the franchise? That is a question only time will tell.
PROBABLE PLAYING XI
Chennai Super Kings RD Gaikwad (C), Rachin Ravindra, MM Ali, DJ Mitchell, S Dubey, RA Jadeja, MS Dhoni (wk), Shardul Thakur, DL Chahar, TU Deshpande, M Theekshana
BENCH : Devon Conway, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Sameer Rizvi, Nishant Sindhu, Mitchell Santner, AJ Mandal, A Avanish, RS Hangargekar, Matheesha Pathirana, Mustafizur Rahman, Prashant Solanki, Simarjeet Singh, Mukesh Choudhary
Royal Challengers Bangalore F du Plessis (C), Virat Kohli, RM Patidar, GJ Maxwell, C Green, Dinesh Karthik (wk), MK Lomror, Akash Deep, KV Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, RJW Topley
BENCH : Anuj Rawat, SS Prabhudessai, S Chauhan, Swapnil Singh, M Bhandage, TK Curran, MJ Dagar, Vijaykumar Vyshak, WG Jacks, Rajan Kumar, Alzarri Joseph, Himanshu Sharma, Yash Dayal, LH Ferguson
INJURY AND AVAILABILITY NEWS
PITCH REPORT
