Reigning champions Chennai Super Kings will begin their title defense against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on March 22. CSK had lifted their fifth title in the previous season after beating Gujarat Titans in the summit clash.

CSK captain MS Dhoni is now 42 and a lot of cricket boffins expect the upcoming season to be his swansong. Dhoni has always played a key role in CSK’s success, and if IPL 2024 is his farewell edition, he would want to leave on a high.

Strengths: CSK has a decent batting unit as they have batters like Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ajinkya Rahane, Shivam Dube, Daryl Mitchell, Rachin Ravindra, Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni. Rahane and Dube were at their best in the previous season and so was Ruturaj Gaikwad. However, CSK will miss the services of Devon Conway, who has been ruled out until May with a fractured thumb.

Furthermore, MS Dhoni’s leadership is always an advantage for the franchise as he tries to stay two steps ahead of the opposition.

Weaknesses: The five-time champions don’t have a lot of experience in their fast bowling unit. Mustafizur Rahman, Deepak Chahar, and Shardul Thakur are there but none of them can bowl faster than 140 kmph.

Ergo, it will be crucial for the likes of Mitchell Santner, Moeen Ali, Ravindra Jadeja and Maheesh Theekshana to be at their best.

CSK Predicted Playing XI: Rachin Ravindra, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Daryl Mitchell, Ajinkya Rahane, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, MS Dhoni (c) (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Mukesh Choudhary.

CSK squad for IPL 2024:

MS Dhoni (c), Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar, Devon Conway, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajay Mandal, Mukesh Choudhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Mitchell Santner, Simarjeet Singh, Nishant Sindhu, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana, Rachin Ravindra, Shardul Thakur, Daryl Mitchell, Sameer Rizvi, Mustafizur Rahman, Avanish Rao Aravelly.