The IPL often throws up interesting match-ups and Saturday’s contest between Delhi Capitals and Chennai Super Kings is one such game.

Not because Delhi Capitals were a very successful team (runners-up) last year while CSK finished seventh out of the eight teams, but because the match will see Rishabh Pant trying to outsmart Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Comparing 23-year-old Pant with 39-year-old Dhoni is like trying to make two parallels meet. When Dhoni had started playing first-class cricket, Pant was two-odd years old. They are from different generations of cricket.

As captains, pitting the two of them against each other looks even more ridiculous, at least on paper. Here’s a man who has climbed the Everest as captain, winning two world titles and three IPL trophies; on the opposite side is the one who will be captaining on the big stage for the first time on Saturday.

Till even a few years back, Dhoni was a mentor to Pant, preparing him to take up the big gloves in the Indian team in the future. But the future has arrived. Dhoni has quit international cricket and Pant has established himself as the regular wicketkeeper-batsman in the Indian team.

Pant doesn’t deny that he has learnt much about cricket and captaincy from Dhoni himself. Now he intends to apply all those while leading the Capitals on the field. “My first match as captain will be against Mahibhai. It will be a good experience for me as I have learned a lot from him. I’ll apply my own experience and learning from him,” Pant said the other day.

So on Saturday at the Wankhede in Mumbai, we will find out if the apprentice manages to trump the master.

The Capitals’ strong batting line-up of Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Steven Smith and Pant himself will look to fire on all cylinders right from the opening game.

On the bowling front they are likely to miss out on the services of South African pacers Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje in the first game as they arrived late. But in Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma and Chris Woakes, they have enough back-up options.

Also playing a key role on a sluggish Wankhede track would be their spinners — Ravichandran Ashwin and Amit Mishra.

On the other hand, CSK will be bolstered by the return of the experienced batsman Suresh Raina, who is their all-time leading run-scorer, with 5,368 runs. Raina will strengthen the top-order, which has the likes of young Ruturaj Gaikwad, South African Faf Du Plessis and Ambati Rayudu.

In young Sam Curran and Moeen Ali, along with Dhoni himself, CSK too have a stable middle-order.