The Indian Premier League 2019 begins today and first up in the league is a big game between Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore. The two posters boys of Indian cricket- Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be leading their troops out on the M A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Saturday. As is customary in the cash-rich league the defending champion is in action on the very first day of the next season that too on home. Hence CSK gets the chance to start off with a flier once again. Chennai Super Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore Live Cricket Score.

Matchday 1 of any IPL season sets the tone for the remainder of the campaign and hence it is important that the game lives up to the billing. In the very first season of IPL, the introductory game saw the Royal Challengers Bangalore lock horns with Shah Rukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders. Brendon McCullum played one of the greatest T20 knocks of all time to set the tone for the league in the most amazing fashion. KKR won the match thanks to the Kiwi great’s innings while RCB could just stand and admire. In the second edition held in South Africa, the Mumbai Indian came out on top against Chennai Super Kings thanks to Sachin Tendulkar’s patient fifty and some clever bowling.

The first game of the 2010 season was held at the D Y Patil Stadium, the adopted home of defending champions Deccan Chargers who lost out to KKR. The following season saw a cliffhanger of a game with CSK beating KKR by a fine margin of two runs. It is till date one of the most keenly contested games in IPL history. Back to back wins in the IPL saw CSK once again be involved in the opening day fixture. But they fizzled out completely in 2012 falling to a shambolic eight-wicket loss against Mumbai Indians. In 2013, it was the KKR boys who defeated Delhi at the Eden Garden to start their campaign with a win. CSK vs RCB, IPL 2019 1st Match Preview: Blockbuster on Cards as MS Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings Play Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore in VIVO IPL 12 Opener.

A first IPL trophy for Mumbai Indians meant they had a game against KKR in the opening day of the 2014 season. They lost out to comprehensively against them as they failed to chase down a score of 164. The two sides met once again in 2015 and Mumbai Indians once again could not find a way past the boys from Kolkata as Gambhir heroics helped the home side win. Mumbai Indian made a hat-trick of appearance on the first day of an IPL season with a game against now defunct Rising Pune Supergiants to mark the beginning of the 2016 IPL. They were outclassed by Pune in this Maharashtra derby.

Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated RCB in 2017 in a high scoring game while the Chennai Super Kings defeated Mumbai Indian last year through Kedar Jadhav’s heroics in the opener. Let us wait and see is in store for the fans this season as RCB hopes to down one of the most successful teams in IPL’s history- the Chennai Super Kings.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 23, 2019 09:30 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).