The First IPL Clash - CSK vs RCB

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Dhoni's New Role, Kohli's Comeback in Focus in IPL 2024 Season Opener RCB Haven't Beaten CSK in Chennai Since IPL 2008. Will That Streak Continue or End on Friday?

Match Details:

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) vs Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) Chennai, 20:00 IST (1430 GMT)

Toss and Impact Player Strategy

Chennai Super Kings

With Dube recuperating from injury, CSK may opt to utilize him solely as a batsman and select either Mukesh Choudhary or Tushar Deshpande, both prominent wicket-takers from the previous season, to bolster their bowling attack.

Potential Bat-first XI: 1 Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), 2 Rachin Ravindra, 3 Ajinkya Rahane, 4 Moeen Ali, 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 MS Dhoni (wk), 9 Shardul Thakur, 10 Deepak Chahar, 11 Maheesh Theekshana

Potential Bowl-first XI: 1 Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), 2 Rachin Ravindra, 3 Ajinkya Rahane, 4 Moeen Ali, 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 MS Dhoni (wk), 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Deepak Chahar, 10 Maheesh Theekshana, 11 Mukesh Choudhary/Tushar Deshpande

Royal Challengers Bangalore

If RCB opt to bat first, they might consider including one among Anuj Rawat, Mahipal Lomror, or Suyash Prabhudessai to strengthen their batting lineup, with the possibility of swapping in a spinner like Himanshu or Karn for the second innings.

Potential Bat-first XI: 1 Faf du Plessis (capt), 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Rajat Patidar, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Cameron Green, 6 Anuj Rawat/Mahipal Lomror/Suyash Prabhudessai, 7 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 8 Alzarri Joseph, 9 Mayank Dagar, 10 Akash Deep/Vyshak Vijaykumar, 11 Mohammed Siraj

Potential Bowl-first XI: 1 Faf du Plessis (capt), 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Rajat Patidar, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Cameron Green, 6 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Alzarri Joseph, 8 Mayank Dagar, 9 Akash Deep/Vyshak Vijaykumar, 10 Himanshu Sharma/Karn Sharma, 11 Mohammed Siraj

Stats That Matter

Jadeja excels in his confrontations against Glenn Maxwell. The left-arm fingerspinner has dismissed Maxwell six times in 51 balls, conceding 70 runs in the IPL. No other bowler has dismissed Maxwell more times in the league.

Gaikwad boasts a favourable record against both Alzarri Joseph (47 off 25 balls, one dismissal) and Lockie Ferguson (56 off 29 balls, no dismissals) in the IPL.

Kohli (985) is just 73 runs shy of surpassing Shikhar Dhawan (1057) as the leading run-scorer against CSK in the IPL. However, Kohli's performance against spin in Chennai during the powerplay hasn't been impressive, accumulating only 15 runs off 23 balls with two dismissals.

RCB's spinners Dagar and Himanshu have managed only one wicket in four matches in the IPL.

Pitch and Conditions:

The IPL 2024 opener will take place on the central pitch at Chepauk, renowned for its spin-friendly nature. This pitch differs from the one used for the Ranji Trophy fixture between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka last month, which offered sharper turn.