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The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 is all set to commence tonight (March 22) at the Chepauk Stadium with a high-octane clash between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).
The MS Dhoni-led CSK won the trophy last year by beating Gujarat Titans (GT) in a last-ball thriller in Ahmedabad. Courtesy of the win, the yellow franchise equaled Mumbai Indians' (MI) record of becoming the IPL champions five times.
Both the most successful teams have made major changes to their leadership departments this year, going into transition and looking ahead to the future. MI traded Hardik Pandya from GT and appointed him as the captain, relieving Rohit Sharma from the responsibilities.
MS Dhoni also relinquished captaincy of the CSK side and handed over the reins to Ruturaj Gaikwad. It is the end of an era, as this will be the first IPL season without Rohit or Dhoni leading a side. The duo ended their reins as the most successful skippers, winning five trophies each during their legendary tenures.
Apart from Gaikwad, Shubman Gill and Pat Cummins will also make their captaincy debuts in IPL 2024. Fans have been waiting enthusiastically to witness the intense battle between the 10 teams in the league. They expressed their anticipation for the tournament before its start by sharing hilarious memes on social media platforms.
Here are some of the best memes:
"Would love to see Virat Kohli go out there and boss the game" - Tom Moody on RCB stalwart ahead of IPL 2024
Former Australian cricketer Tom Moody recently expressed his desire to watch Virat Kohli dominate the bowling attacks and score a heap of runs this season like he did in IPL 2016, where he amassed a record 973 runs. Speaking on ESPNcricinfo about Kohli ahead of IPL 2024, Tom Moody said:
"Would like to see him take the game on and boss the game because he has got the game, he has got more than the game as one of the greats. When he does that, he looks unstoppable. I keep getting flashbacks of 2016 when he had a bumper year and you just couldn't bowl to him. No one was looking at the strike rate then because he was just controlling the game and no one could bowl to him at that point."
He added:
"With the Impact Sub now in play and the reinforcements RCB have got with their batting, would love to see Virat Kohli go out there and boss the game. He can do it because you are not asking someone to do something they are not capable of doing. He can do it and just tear this tournament apart."
Do you think Virat Kohli will have a blockbuster season with the bat similar to 2016? Let us know your views along with predictions about leading run-scorer this year in the comments section.
