After the IPL auction in January, it seemed the Chennai side was filled with players of a certain age – Watson, Dhoni and Bravo are 36, 36 and 34 years old respectively.

Even in the tenth year of the IPL, despite many instances when older players have pulled off stunning feats, the feeling lingers that T20 is a young man’s game. Therefore, there weren’t many who gave Chennai, despite their excellent history in the tournament, much of a chance.

One of the subplots on Wednesday is the clash between the current and former India captain – Virat Kohli and Dhoni. Fleming played it down, saying it was a contest that would have been big a couple of years ago, but he expected an intense match all the same.

“It is a special match, given the proximity of the two cities,” he said. “There is a lot of interest, a lot of emotion and we have always enjoyed the encounters and have seen some great ones over the years. Both the teams are very talented. We have gotten over the line a couple of times more this season, so we’ve seen a little bit more of winning form.

“But given the quality of players in the RCB line-up, it will be one of the tough games during the season. We know we will have to play very well if we want to put any pressure on their top-order. They also have some good bowlers. Umesh Yadav has been excellent with the new ball, (Yuzvendra) Chahal, so there are a lot of good contests throughout the game.”