Chennai; News Agency: Chennai Super Kings started the 17th season of the Indian Premier League with a bang with a 6-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore. Batting first, RCB scored 173 for 6 in the opening match, which Chennai completed in 18.4 overs. Man of the Match Mustafizur Rahman took 4 wickets for 29 runs from CSK and laid the foundation for the victory. (IPL 2024)
Captains Rituraj Gaikwad and Rachin Ravindra made a quick start as they chased down RCB's challenge; But their partnership could not take a big form. Yash Dayal broke the pair by dismissing Rituraj (15). Rachin Ravindra, playing his first IPL match, fell victim to Karn Sharma on 37 runs. Ajinkya Rahane added 27 runs in 19 balls. Darrell Mitchell (22) returns with runs added. Chennai needed 64 runs this time.
The left-handed pair of Ravindra Jadeja and Shivam Dubey took over the reins of the innings. Both reduced the excitement of the Chennai fans as they drove the run-rate past ten. CSK won the match with 8 balls to spare due to both of them hitting. Shivam Dubey hit Alzari Joseph for a six and a four to reach the winning target. Dubey (34) and Jadeja (25) remained unbeaten on runs. (IPL 2024)
Earlier, captain Faf du Flessis played an explosive knock for RCB after winning the toss and batting first. Du Flessis hits Deepak Chahar for a boundary. When the RCB car was running smoothly, Mustafizur Rahman braked the car. RCB lost his first wicket as captain on 41 runs of the innings. Du Flessis scored 35 runs with 8 fours. Then in the same over, Rajat Patidar returned to the tent without scoring a single run. Deepak Chahar bowled Glenn Maxwell (0) and Mustafizur bowled Cameron Green (18) in the next over. Virat Kohli tried to recover the innings with a slow innings, but Ajinkya Rahane came in his way. Rahane took an amazing catch of Virat who was trying to play a big shot off the bowling of Mustafizur. As the ball traveled towards the boundary, he took the catch and Rachin Ravindra ran to his rescue. Both completed the catch together. Virat Kohli was dismissed for 21 runs off 20 balls.
Anuj Rawat (48) and Dinesh Karthik (38) scored not out when the team was in trouble at 78 for 5. On the strength of this, RCB scored 173 runs for 6 in the allotted 20 overs. (IPL 2024)