- Thursday, May 09, 2024
Defending champions Chennai Super Kings will take on Royal Challengers Bangalore in the match to be held in Chennai.
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE much-awaited Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 will kick off on Friday (22) when defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will take on Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The home team fans are super excited, particularly because the game will see the return of former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni to competitive cricket after the conclusion of the 2023 edition of the IPL.
The RCB, on the other hand, will see the return of ace India batter Virat Kohli to the 22 yards after he missed the recent five-match Test series at home against England as his wife gave birth to their second child in London.
Demand for tickets for the opening game have gone through the roof and even senior Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin, who is from Chennai, is struggling to get a few of them. The 37-year-old cricketer, who recently took his 500th wicket in Test cricket against England and also appeared for the 100th game in the format, took to X to speak about the “unreal demand” for the CSK-RCB clash.
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He said his kids wanted to see the opening ceremony as well as the first game and even requested the home franchise to help him with tickets.
Unreal ticket demand for the #CSKvRCB #IPL2024 opener at Chepauk.
My kids want to the see opening ceremony and the game.@ChennaiIPL pls help🥳— Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) March 18, 2024
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Ashwin himself will also play in the IPL for Rajasthan Royals (RR), which recently felicitated him over his Test feat after he joined the camp only recently. A video of the occasion went viral which showed RR captain Sanju Samson presenting Ashwin a jersey with the number 500 written on the back. Other members of the squad were seen standing up to acknowledge Ashwin for his achievement. He is the fastest Indian bowler to claim 500 Test scalps and is the second-highest wicket-taker (516) at the moment after the legendary leg-spinner Anil Kumble who has 619 wickets in the format.
In IPL, Ashwin has played 197 matches since 2009 in which he has taken 171 wickets at an average of 28.67.
CSK and RCB have played each other 31 times with the former having a 21-10 lead with one game ending in no result.
