After left arm medium pacer and man-of-the-match Musatifzur Rahman wrecked the top order with four wickets in two overs, five time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) defeated Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) by six wickets in the 2024 IPL opener at the M.A.Chidambaram stadium here on Friday night.
After restricting RCB to 173 for six, which was largely due to the anchoring 6th wicket stand of 95 between south paw Anuj Rawat and Dinesh Karthik, the home team, got off to a good start, stuttered in the middle, before crossing the finishing line with eight balls to spare in front of large turnout of Yellow brigade at Chepauk.
The win was possible largely due to the unbroken 66-run stand for the fifth wicket between impact player Shivam Dube (34 not out, 28 balls, 4×4, 1×6) and all rounder Ravindra Jadeja (25 not out,
17 balls, 1×6), who scored the winning runs in CSKs fifth title triumph at Ahmedabad last year, as the home team romped home after some surviving anxious moments.
CSK finished scoring 176 for four in 18.4 overs, with the Dube providing the much need boost in the end with a flurry of boundaries after it lost lost four wickets in the middle overs despite a bright start like their opponents.
New skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad after marshalling his resources well to restrict RCB to a moderate total, got off briskly along with fellow opener New Zealands Rachin Ravindra adding 38 in four overs.
Gaikwad scored run-a-ball 15 with three fours, while an aggressive Ravindra struck three sixers and an equal number of boundaries in his 15-ball entertaining knock of 37, before holding out to deep square leg of spinner Karan Sharma, looking for a second maximum, after hitting one in the previous ball.
Another Kiwi Darry Mitchell too got a start scoring an 18-ball 22 with two sixers, but a double blow dealt by gentle medium pacer Cameroon Green who removed both No.3 Ajinkya Rahane (27, 19 balls, 2×6) and Mitchell triggered RCBs hopes of an upset win, as CSK was clearly the home favourite.
Ajinkya Rahane and another Kiwi Darry Mitchell–both started with hitting a six each–consolidated somewhat, before losing their wickets in a bid to force the pace as CSK was in a spot of bother, but the chase was helmed well by Dube and Ravindra Jadeja.
The two left-handers Dube and Ravindra Jadeja ensured that there were no hiccups as they guided the team comfortably home with their unbroken stand, with Dube taking the Centre stage picking the much-need boundaries that not only eased the pressure and also took too the home team across the finishing line to ensure a winning start for CSK, which recorded its eight successive win in IPL.
(With UNI inputs)
