IPL 2019: Virat Kohli and Co departs for their first IPL match against CSK; see pictures

Virat Kohli and company are off to Chennai for their first match of the Indian Premier League. The series opener between MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings and Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore is the much anticipated match and the tickets are already sold-out. The first match of the IPL is going to be a full house.

Virat Kohli shared a picture from his official Twitter account where AB de Villiers and company are in team bus departing for Chennai. Virat wrote, “Off to Chennai #teamrcb #ipl.”

Royal Challengers Bangalore, who are yet to win the coveted IPL title, once again look solid on paper ahead of the 12th season of world's biggest T20 tournament. In a bid to end their title drought in the upcoming season, the underachievers retained a vast majority of the team's core ahead of the 2019 Auction in Jaipur in December last year.

The dates for 2019 edition of Indian Premier League have been announced by the organisers. Defending champions Chennai Super Kings will play Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore in the opener on March 23 in Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium.

RCB squad for 2019: Virat Kohli (C), AB de Villiers, Shimron Hetmyer, Moeen Ali, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mohammed Siraj, Marcus Stoinis, Tim Southee, Colin de Grandhomme, Yuzvendra Chahal, Akshdeep Nath, Parthiv Patel, Milind Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Pawan Negi, Navdeep Saini, Shivam Dube, Heinrich Klaasen, Gurkeerat Singh, Washington Sundar, Himmat Singh, Kulwant Khejroliya

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