Watch: Virat Kohli Creates Another Epic Moment in Chennai, Grooving to “Appadi Podu” by Thalapathy Vijay
On the first day of the IPL 2024, which got off with a glamorous opening ceremony at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium, Virat Kohli made his comeback to playing competitive cricket. Five-time champions Chennai Super Kings defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by six wickets on the first night of the widely watched Twenty20 competition, launching their championship defense with a victory.
When RCB skipper Faf du Plessis chose to bat first, his side faltered after getting off to a quick start. However, Anuj Rawat and Dinesh Karthik came to the rescue, helping the team reach 173/6 in 20 overs. With ease, CSK would surpass the goal and complete the match in 18.4 overs.
Kohli, who opened the RCB batting with 21 off 20, was seen dancing to the popular Tamil song Appadi Podu from the 2004 film Ghilli during the CSK chase.
Ruturaj Gaikwad captained CSK for the first time in that match, and the young player says he relished the opportunity.
It’s always been enjoyable for me; I’ve never felt under more strain. During the post-match presentation, he added, “I knew how to manage it; I never felt pressure, and obviously had Mahi (MS Dhoni) bhai also.
After hitting 23 off of 35 balls, RCB skipper Du Plessis thought that his side was short of runs by around 15-20 and that the surface wasn’t as tough as their top-order had made it seem in the first 10 overs of the innings. RCB collapsed from 41/0 to 78/5.
“With their spinners, Chennai can really hurt you in the middle overs. They are a very good team.” The pitch wasn’t as awful as it was during the first ten overs, so maybe we were short by 15 to 20 runs. We attempted to squeeze out a few wickets, but ultimately we were unable to muster enough runs, as they were always ahead in the chase, according to Du Plessis.
After the two days off, RCB will play their next match on Monday against the Punjab Kings, while CSK will play their next match on Tuesday against the Gujarat Titans.
