The first match of the tournament will see the previous year’s runner-up, Chennai Super Kings taking on the Mumbai Indians. Mumbai Indians had missed the services of Sachin Tendulkar for most part of the tournament and crashed out narrowly without making it to the semi-finals. This time around Tendulkar is fit and leading the side. Chennai will be bolstered by the presence of Andrew Flintoff and Matthew Hayden and M.S. Dhoni will lead the side.

The Bangalore Royal Challengers will face up to the Rajasthan Royals in the second encounter of the day at Cape Town. The Royal Challengers had a woeful first edition and that prompted its owner to make wholesale changes to the side, including replacing Rahul Dravid as captain with Kevin Pietersen. Rajasthan Royals are the defending champions but many of the bookies have already ruled their chances off; what with the absence of Shane Watson and Sohail Tanvir, their last season’s heroes.