CSK vs RCB: Revealed – Who are the impact players nominated by CSK and RCB in match 1 of IPL 2024

The highly-awaited 17th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is finally underway. Reigning champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will be taking on each other in a mouth-watering tournament opener at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

The home side is starting a new journey and the game against RCB will mark its beginning. CSK will be led by Ruturaj Gaikwad for the first time in their history as MS Dhoni has relinquished the captaincy. On Thursday (March 21), the franchise announced that Gaikwad has replaced Dhoni as the captain of the team.

This is the second time that Dhoni has stepped down as the captain of CSK and the franchise would be desperately hoping that it works this time. In 2022, Dhoni had handed the captaincy to Ravindra Jadeja but it did not work out. CSK lost six of their first eight games before Jadeja stepped down as the captain. The Chennai-based outfit went on to finish the season at the ninth spot with just four wins from 14 games.

On the other hand, Faf du Plessis would continue to lead the Bengaluru-based outfit. Having failed to qualify for the playoffs last season, RCB would be desperate to do well this year and would be keen to make a positive start.

CSK vs RCB: Impact players list:

CSK Impact Players: Shaik Rasheed, Nishant Sindhu, Moeen Ali, Shardul Thakur, and Shivam Dube

RCB Impact Players: Yash Dayal, Suyash Prabhudessai, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Akash Deep, and Swapnil Singh

Talking about the game, RCB captain Faf du Plessis won the toss and opted to bat first.

“We’ll bat first. Looks a good wicket, conditions here are a bat first wicket. First time back here, great to see the Chennai fans again but I’m here with RCB and hopefully we can turn over a very good CSK team. Prep has been good, we need to turn up now. A seasoned campaigner, brings that experience,” said du Plessis.

On the other hand, Gaikwad said: “Feel privileged. But I want to try and be in my shoes, not fill anybody’s shoes. I got to know last week, but Mahi bhai hinted at it last year. Everyone is experienced here, sadly we are missing Conway and Pathirana. We’ve got Rachin and Mitchell coming in though.”