For some it is a festival, for some it is an opportunity, for some it is a dream while for some it is even a piece of cake !!!!
The Indian Premier League offers different purposes for different sections of fans or even players. Be it for the atmosphere, the crowd, the fame, the prize money or the paycheck, IPL is the dream tournament when it comes to cricket.
16 years since its inception, the tournament now in its immaculate maturity kicks off for the 17th time this Friday at one of its very own iconic MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk.
Royal Challengers now “Bengaluru” will take on host and title defenders Chennai. The difference in the number of titles doesn’t do justice to the fierceness of this rivalry with the 2 biggest names in Indian cricket up against each other.
Team Preview
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Bengaluru not Bangalore, with a new name and now also a champion franchise RCB enters the 2024 IPL with new vibes. New director of cricket, new head coach, new name and hopefully a new, different result.
The auction, however, didn’t go as per the priority of the franchise, trading in Cameron Green right before the purchase day shortened their purse which left them with limited money to rebuild their bowling resulting in a lack of a big overseas name in their attack. The batting as always looks ripped and deep but for defending totals on Chinnaswamy Highway they’ll be heavily dependent on Siraj and Ferguson.
Ferguson, Topley, and Joseph are the 3 premier overseas options to lead that bowling attack, but for the first game in Chennai RCB can pull out the trump card of English t20 sensation Will Jacks as their 4th overseas pick
Jacks was seen bowling with the new ball in the SA20 2024 held in January. The all-rounder had an economy rate of 6.43 in a tournament where the 200 innings total mark was crossed 15 times in 34 games including some rain-abandoned and shortened games.
Chepauk is a well-known spinner-friendly venue, 4 out of 7 league games here in 2023 had a spinner-winning Man of the Match award even in some of the high-scoring encounters. Will Jacks will definitely be a name to think of for RCB.
Jacks is just one of the many youngsters like Suyash Prabhudesai, Cameron Green and Akash Deep who will likely be pivotal in RCB’s probable success.
Expected starting XII (not in preference of batting order): Faf Du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Suyash Prabhudesai, Dinesh Karthik/ Anuj Rawat (wk), Will Jacks/ Reece Topley, Mohammed Siraj, Karn Sharma, Akash Deep, Yash Dayal.
Chennai Super Kings
5-time Champions, 5 times Runners-up, playoffs qualification rate of 86%. The team that has been title holders in 5 seasons and title contenders forever in the history of the tournament. Arguably the greatest franchise to ever exist in the sport, The Lions of Chennai led by MS Dhoni. The title holders will start their campaign in their very own Den of Chepauk.
Just like in previous years, CSK has collected a unit keeping their home ground in mind. 16 years of the tournament have witnessed several trends change and modernise, but the most successful team is resistant to change their evergreen traditions.
The squad has more or less stayed the same, the inclusion of World Cup Kiwi stars Rachin Ravindra & Daryl Mitchell only makes it better for Chennai. While the likes of Starc & Cummins were sold for big money, Chennai sticks with its 2 Asian but overseas fast bowlers, Pathirana and Mustafizur, who can very well adapt to the slow deck of M. A. Chidambaram Stadium. Santner, Moeen Ali, Jadeja, Theekshana complete the spin attack & Shardul Thakur has returned to the team where he won the cup twice in his 4-year stint.
The team looks complete, 10 out of 25 players qualify the definition of t20 all-rounder and the team might very well get a headache finalising the XII.
Expected playing XI (not in preference of batting order): Rachin Ravindra, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Moeen Ali, Sameer Rizvi/Ajinkya Rahane, Daryl Mitchell, Shivam Dube, MS Dhoni (wk) (c), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Maheesh Theekshana, Mukesh Chaudhary.
Key Matchups and Numbers (All T20s)
- Glenn Maxwell v/s Ravindra Jadeja: 93 runs, 65 balls, 7 dismissals.
- Glenn Maxwell v/s Maheesh Theekshana: 69 runs, 36 balls, 3 dismissals.
- Moeen Ali v/s Lockie Ferguson: 40 runs, 25 balls, 1 dismissal.
- Virat Kohli v/s Deepak Chahar: 68 runs, 49 balls, 1 dismissal.
- Virat Kohli v/s Shardul Thakur: 67 runs, 42 balls, 1 dismissal.
- Virat Kohli needs 15 more runs to complete 1000 IPL runs against Chennai. He can be the 2nd ever to achieve this feat.
- Glenn Maxwell has a batting strike rate of 170 against spinners in t20 cricket since 2022.
- Faf du Plessis has an IPL strike rate of 119 in Chennai.
RCB vs CSK Dream11 Team for Match 1 of 2024 IPL
Note:Â This is not our final Dream11 Team as we are not aware of the Toss Result/Final Playing XI of both teams at this moment.
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