The Chennai Super Kings (CSK), who are the defending champions, started their IPL 2024 season with a solid win against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday. They won by six wickets. Their victory was thanks in part to some excellent fielding, especially a great catch by Ajinkya Rahane and Rachin Ravindra that got rid of Virat Kohli.
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Ajinkya Rahane and Rachin Ravindra team up for a fantastic dismissal
CSK were chasing a target of 156 runs set by RCB, which wasn’t too high. CSK’s bowlers did a great job early in the game. Mustafizur Rahman was particularly impressive, taking three important wickets. In the 12th over, he bowled a delivery that tempted Kohli to go for a big shot. Rahane made a fantastic diving catch near the boundary, but he was about to cross the line. So, he threw the ball back in to Ravindra, who completed the catch safely, getting Kohli out.
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Mustafizur Rahman wrecks RCB top order
Mustafizur wasn’t finished yet. Just two balls later, he knocked over Cameron Green for a slow 18 runs, taking two wickets in that over.
The left-arm bowler had earlier dismissed Faf du Plessis (scoring 35 off 23 balls) and Rajat Patidar (scoring 0) quickly in his first over, causing trouble for the RCB top order. Anuj Rawat (scoring 48 off 25 balls) and Dinesh Karthik (scoring 38 not out off 26 balls) staged a late fightback, helping RCB post a competitive total of 173/6 on the scoreboard.
CSK sails smoothly to win
CSK easily reached the goal in 18.4 overs. Newcomer Ravindra did great with 37 runs from just 15 balls, and Rahane, who’s been playing for a while, scored 27 runs from 19 balls, giving the team a good start. Shivam Dube stayed unbeaten with 34 runs from 28 balls, and Ravindra Jadeja also remained unbeaten with 25 runs from 17 balls, wrapping up the game smoothly and securing a nice win for the Chennai team.