The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) will take on the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in one of the most anticipated clashes of the 2024 edition of the IPL. Yash Dayal redeeming himself against Rinku Singh after those five sixes in the last over? Or Mitchell Starc against Virat Kohli and Glenn Maxwell or Mohammed Siraj against Phil Salt? Or maybe the biggest of them all, Virat Kohli up against Gautam Gambhir? The two celebrated Indian cricketers have been in each other’s face not once or twice but thrice, even when Gambhir wasn’t with KKR, the two clashed as the former India opener stood for his player Naveen ul Haq as mentor of the Lucknow Super Giants last year.

From Chris Gayle smashing a century in his first game against his former side KKR in the 2011 edition to the 2013 game where Gambhir and Kohli had a heated exchange for the first time. Then the 2015 one, where both argued once again or two years later the capitulation to 49 all out, which is still the lowest team score in IPL history. Then in 2019 where Virat Kohli smashed his fifth IPL century and RCB prevailed in a thriller but in the reverse fixture in the same edition, Andre Russell’s 13-ball 48 helped KKR chase down 53 off the last three overs.

But why is the KKR vs RCB fixture called El Primero of the IPL? Because this very clash started it all 16 years ago when Brendon McCullum playing for the Knight Riders dispatched 158* off in the opening encounter of the tournament in 2008 against the Men in Red. The two-time champions went on to win the clash by a huge margin of 140 runs. That knock and match set the tone of the tournament, which was going to light up and change the T20 cricket spectrum and Indian cricket forever.

It was the first-ever clash, the oldest rivalry, which has gone on to produce some humdingers over the years and hence the name, ‘El Primero’, the first. The fans and the supporters will hope for nothing different on Friday, March 29 at M Chinnaswamy Stadium given both teams are coming off wins and there are several subtexts and layers attached to the context. So, who will it be? We can’t wait for sure!