Ind-T20 League 2024

Match 1: CHE vs BLR

Preview 

Nation’s most awaited T20 cricket tournament, Indian T20 League will kickstart on March 22, Friday with reigning champions Chennai taking on Bengaluru at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Tamil Nadu. 

While Chennai have won the title five times, Bengaluru are yet to get their hands on the converted trophy but continue to remain favourites because of their star studded lineup. Previously known as Bangalore, the southern franchise dropped Bangalore from its name and adopted Bengaluru from this season. Meanwhile, the men in yellow have also changed a long tradition of keeping MS Dhoni as their skipper. Ruturaj Gaikwad has been named as the new skipper of the team. 

Fondly known as Thala, MS Dhoni is all set to return to action after almost a year, having undergone knee surgery after last year’s season. Meanwhile, Chennai’s hard hitting batting all rounder is also fit after missing the Ranji Trophy knockouts due to injury. For Chennai, as has been the standard, and while all the hype is around MS and this season being his final, in inclusion, exceptionally talented Rachin Ravindra makes this Chennai line-up look formidable. 

For Benagaluru, ace batter Virat Kohli will return to the field following a two month break. He made only two T20I appearances against Afghanistan in January since the previous edition of the tournament and this season will act as a good build up to the 2024 T20 World Cup in June. The visitors will have an added motivation and inspiration to put an end to their title drought this year in the form of the memorable Women’s T20 League title win from Smriti Mandhana and co. 

But it is easier said than done, and Faf Du Plessis led time will know it better than anybody else. In the 31 matches played between these outfits thus far, Chennai have won 20 of them, with Bengaluru managing only 10. In the last meeting, in the 2023 edition, Chennai edged past their fierce rivals at Chepauk. Bengaluru, as always, has a potent batting unit, but bowling is one department they will have to worry about– majorly due to the lack of a proper spinner. They have a trump card in the form of Cameron Green, but Virat Kohli , and skipper Faf Du Plessis will hold the key. 

Match Details

Match: CHE vs BLR, 1st Match, Indian T20 League 2024

Date: Friday, March 22, 2024

Time: 8:00 PM

Venue: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai

Pitch and Weather Report

The inaugural match of the 2024 season will be played on the central wicket at Chepauk, which conventionally is a spin friendly one. The venue has hosted 76 Ind T20 League matches so far and the side batting first has almost 60% of the matches. 

The MeT department has predicted clear skies with maximum temperatures hovering between the range of 31 and 30 degree celsius. 

CHE vs BLR Squads

CHE: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), MS Dhoni (wk), Rachin Ravindra, Ajinkya Rahane, Sameer Rizvi, Daryl Mitchell, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Maheesh Theekshana, Moeen Ali, Devon Conway, Mustafizur Rahman, Mitchell Santner, Tushar Deshpande, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Prashant Solanki, Mukesh Choudhary, Simarjeet Singh, RS Hangargekar, Shaik Rasheed, Nishant Sindhu, Aravelly Avanish

BLR: Faf du Plessis (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Mahipal Lomror, Alzarri Joseph, Karn Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Reece Topley, Tom Curran, Swapnil Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Lockie Ferguson, Mayank Dagar, Will Jacks, Suyash Prabhudessai, Anuj Rawat, Manoj Bhandage, Yash Dayal, Saurav Chauhan, Rajan Kumar, Himanshu Sharma

CHE vs BLR Probable Playing XIs

CHE: Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), Rachin Ravindra, Ajinkya Rahane, Moeen Ali, Daryl Mitchell, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (wk), Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Maheesh Theekshana

BLR: Faf du Plessis (capt), Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Anuj Rawat/Mahipal Lomror/Suyash Prabhudessai, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Alzarri Joseph, Mayank Dagar, Akash Deep/Vyshak Vijaykumar, Mohammed Siraj

Match Prediction

Chennai have been a force to reckon with at home and will enter the season opener as firm favourites. However, Bengaluru cannot be taken lightly. They pack a punch with bat in hand and would look to wreak havoc on Friday. We are backing the hosts to win this encounter. 

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Team 1

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