Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) stalwart Virat Kohli has voiced his excitement about catching up with MS Dhoni, as his team will clash with defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the opening match of the IPL 2024 in Chennai on March 22, 2024.

Virat Kohli will be making his return to competitive cricket after two months. He last played in January for India in the T20I series against Afghanistan. Kohli missed the entire England Test series as he and his wife Anushka Sharma welcomed their second baby in February.

Kohli is the highest run-getter in IPL history and shared the significance of the impending encounter against CSK. He has 7263 runs in 237 matches and 229 innings, including seven centuries and 50 fifties.

"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," Kohli said on RCB's Bold Diaries.

Kohli had an excellent outing in IPL 2023 where he managed 639 runs at an average of 53.25 and a formidable strike rate of 139.82.

The IPL 2024 opener between CSK and RCB will be preceded by a dazzling opening ceremony featuring AR Rahman, Sonu Nigam, Akshay Kumar, and Tiger Shroff.

(ANI inputs)