The IPL 2024 will kick-off with Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings and Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bengaluru take each other on at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai. Virat Kohli, who was on a sabbatical, will return to competitive cricket with the match. However, former CSK opener Matthew Hayden has urged the CSK team to get Kohli out inside the powerplay. Hayden said seeing the back of Kohli early will provide CSK with more chance of winning.
The CSK vs RCB will see two stalwarts of the game in the form of MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli take each other on. The game has always captivated the imagination of the cricket lovers all over the world. Royal Challengers Bengaluru has a dismal record at Chennai Super Kings‘ home ground, winning only one of the previous encounters and losing seven. Ahead of the IPL opener, Hayden had a word of advice for Ruturaj Gaikwad and co.
Kohli struggles in Chepauk: Hayden
“One thing is for certain, it’s a blockbuster showdown. Virat Kohli this year is going to be celebrated across all the games. His record is a 30 average at Chepauk stadium with a strike rate of 111. You know what that means? Someone like Virat, even the greatness of Virat has been reduced in terms of his overall performance at that venue.
“It is a tricky venue to bat on, especially as an opening batsman. It gets a weird tennis ball type bounce, it’s quite slow and difficult to play shots early. But the longer you bat, the game opens up and that’s where Virat can be at his most dangerous. If he is prepared to bat the 20 overs, he can put together a match-winning performance,” said Hayden.
“200 is very accessible at Chinnaswamy but not necessarily at Chepauk Stadium. A 150, 130 at times has been plenty of runs when you get guys as good as Jadeja there who bowls stump to stump with the odd ball to turn and the odd ball that stays low, it’s really tricky, so they’re going to need Virat Kohli out early inside the powerplay. They’ve done so thrice over the last 5 innings, and they’ll need to do so for the 4th time,” Hayden added.
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