(Image source: X.com)
[Saba Sports News] As the partial schedule of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 has been announced on Thursday, the anticipation for the cricket extravaganza has surged among fans worldwide. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Faf du Plessis expressed his eagerness to kick off the tournament with a face-off against his former IPL team Chennai Super Kings (CSK) set to grace the M. Chidambaram Stadium set on 22nd March.
Unlike previous seasons’ traditions where the defending champions traditionally faced the runners-up of the preceding year, this year promises an intriguing twist. Defending champions CSK, led by MS Dhoni, will clash against RCB in the first match of the tournament, replacing the expected face-off with last season’s runners-up Gujarat Titans.
Expressing his excitement for the much-anticipated showdown against CSK, du Plessis took to Instagram to reshare a post from the official RCB account.
The post featured a pre-match photograph of du Plessis and Dhoni from the previous year when the two teams last met. Faf captioned his story with, “What a first game this will be wow…”
Du Plessis, who made his IPL debut for CSK and played with them till 2021, became a significant acquisition for RCB in the 2022 IPL mega auctions. Priced at INR 7 crore, he not only added firepower to the team but also took on the leadership role after star batsman Virat Kohli stepped down from the captaincy after IPL 2021.
While RCB commences their campaign with an away fixture against CSK, their following three matches will be held at their home ground, M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, where they will face Punjab Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders and Lucknow Super Giants.