Chennai: The 17th season of IPL, the biggest festival of cricket in the country, started from Friday. In the opening match of IPL 2024, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 6 wickets. RCB set a target of 174 runs at Chepauk Stadium, Chennai. CSK chased this target by losing four wickets in 18.4 overs. Shivam Dubey (34 not out in 28 balls, four fours, one six) and Ravindra Jadeja (25 in 17 balls, one six) made an unbroken partnership of 66 runs for the fifth wicket and led Chennai to victory. Veteran wicketkeeper batsman MS Dhoni handed over the command of Chennai to Rituraj Gaikwad on Thursday. CSK played the first match under the captaincy of Gaikwad and hoisted the winning flag.
Chasing the target, CSK made a steady start. Captain Gaikwad (15 from 15 balls, three fours) and debutant Rachin Ravindra (37 from 15 balls, three fours, three sixes) made a partnership of 38 runs for the first wicket. The first blow to Chennai came in the form of Gaikwad, who was sent to the pavilion by Yash Dayal in the fourth over. New Zealand’s young sensation Rachin’s stormy innings was ended by Karn Sharma in the seventh over. Ajinkya Rahane (27 in 19 balls, two sixes) was sent out by Green in the 11th over. Green dismissed Daryl Mitchell (22 from 18 balls, two sixes) in the 13th over.
Earlier, RCB scored 173 runs at the loss of 6 wickets in the stipulated 20 overs. Mustafizur Rahman took four wickets. Anuj Rawat and Dinesh Karthik batted well for RCB. Both of them made a 95-run partnership for the sixth wicket in difficult conditions and took RCB to a respectable score. Rawat scored 48 runs in 25 balls with the help of 4 fours and 3 sixes. Karthik added 38 unbeaten runs in 28 balls. He hit three fours and two sixes. RCB won the toss and chose to bat and captain Faf du Plessis (35 in 20 balls, 8 fours) got off to a bright start.
He made a partnership of 41 runs for the first wicket with Virat Kohli (21 in 20 balls, one four). Fast bowler Mustafizur trapped Duplessis and Rajat Patidar (0) in the fifth over. Patidar gave the catch to MS Dhoni. Deepak Chahar got Glenn Maxwell (0) caught by Dhoni in the sixth over. After this, Mustafizur dismissed Kohli and Cameron Green (18) in the 12th over, due to which RCB’s innings faltered badly. RCB lost five important wickets for 78 runs. In such a situation, Rawat and Karthik handled the situation very well. This partnership broke when Rawat was run out on the last ball of the innings.
CSK vs RCB Score
CSK 176/4 (18.4 overs)
RCB 174/6 (20 overs)
Playing XI of Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad (captain), Rachin Ravindra, Ajinkya Rahane, Daryl Mitchell, Ravindra Jadeja, Sameer Rizvi, MS Dhoni (wicketkeeper), Deepak Chahar, Mahesh Theekshana, Mustafizur Rahman, Tushar Deshpande.
Playing XI of Royal Challengers Bangalore: Faf Du Plessis (captain), Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Dinesh Karthik (wicketkeeper), Anuj Rawat, Karn Sharma, Alzarri Joseph, Mayank Dagar, Mohammed Siraj.
