Super Kings will face Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL 2024 curtain raiser at home, and cricket's star boy Virat Kohli is excited for the Southern derby.

Considered to be among the marquee matches in the tournament, CSK vs RCB is like the clash of the Titans. Speaking ahead of the opener on March 22 (Friday), Kohli said he cannot wait to take the field against CSK and meet his old teammate and former captain MS Dhoni. "Playing against Chennai is obviously always a special occasion, a big game. You know, the Southern Derby, as they call it. Yeah, it's nice to play in front of very passionate Chennai fans, and yeah, good to catch up with MS Dhoni, it's been a while," Virat said on RCB's bold diaries. Meanwhile, Virat, being the top run-getter in the IPL with 7263 runs in 229 innings, including seven hundreds and 50 fifties, will be a threat to the home side in the IPL 2024 opener. 6Batting at the top alongside captain and former CSK hero Faf du Plessis, the pair will look to make it big and end RCB's winless run in Chennai since 2008. IPL 2024: 'There wasn't a dry eye in the dressing room: Fleming on MS Dhoni's resignation as CSK captain Even last season, Virat starred with the bat in hand, slamming 639 runs at an average of 53.25 and a strike rate close to 140. While he was the fourth-highest run-scorer in the tournament, he failed to guide his team to the playoffs, as they finished outside the top four. However, with the addition of several new faces in the squad for this season, including overseas stars like Cameron Green, Alzarri Joseph, Tom Curran and Lockie Ferguson, RCB will look to turn the tables around and replicate what their women's team did this season, winning the tournament for the first time.

RCB's Full Squad for IPL 2024 -

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