The 17th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will kick off on March 22 in Chennai. Defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK), led by ‘Thala’ MS Dhoni, will take on fan Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at home.
This will be King Kohli’s return to cricket after nearly two months. For personal reasons, he opted out of the India vs England Test series. Now, we know that Virat and his wife Anushka Sharma were expecting their second child during that time.
On February 15, when India started playing the third Test match of the series against England in Rajkot, Virat and Anushka welcomed their son, Akaay.
Even Dhoni will be back in action after a break. He was last seen in action at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad 10 months back. On May 28, Mahi led his team to a historic fifth IPL title. IPL 2024 may turn out to be significant as Dhoni is likely to retire after this season.
Meanwhile, Bengaluru captain Faf du Plessis has said that he considers himself lucky to have spent some time with Dhoni over the last few years. Faf used to play for CSK between 2018 and 2021 under MSD’s captaincy.
“That’s probably the biggest thing in my career, my years at Chennai. It shaped me from a leadership perspective, just observing MS. As a young leader, it was special to my growth,” the RCB skipper told Star Sports while calling Dhoni the “greatest-ever captain”.
Will this season belong to RCB?
Bengaluru ended up in the IPL finals thrice but failed to emerge victorious on all three occasions. However, RCB Women have recently clinched the first-ever T20 trophy for their franchise. Smriti Mandhana led her team to victory in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024 final against Delhi Capitals.
Will that work as an inspiration for the star-studded men’s team? A lot will depend on how RCB start their tournament. For now, all eyes are on the opening match when Thala will take on King.
(With agency inputs)
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Published: 21 Mar 2024, 06:46 AM IST