Mustafizur Rahman picked four wickets on his CSK debut, and newcomer Rachin Ravindra shined as Chennai Super Kings beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by six wickets in the IPL 2024 opener at home. CSK’s impact player, Shivam Dube, made all the difference as the home team maintained a winning run against their rivals.

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Royal Challengers Bengaluru won the toss and elected to bat first at Chepauk. Much to no one’s surprise, the star pair of Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli got RCB off to a flyer, adding 41 for the first wicket before Mustafizur Rahman struck twice in his first over to pull things back for CSK. Deepak Chahar removed Glenn Maxwell on a first-ball duck to further dent RCB’s momentum.

While Kohli stood his ground, completing 12000 T20 runs and becoming the first Indian to do so, he got out to Mustafizur on 21. An excellent catch at deep mid-wicket by Ajinkya Rahane and Rachin resulted in his dismissal. The left-arm seamer quickly got the fish in Cameron Green, bowled on 18, to put RCB’s back against the wall.

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When it looked like RCB might suffer a drastic fate at Chepauk, a 95-run-stand between two keeper batters, Anuj Rawat and veteran Dinesh Karthik, bailed RCB out of trouble, helping them put up a fighting total (173/6) on the board. While DK remained unbeaten on 38, the aggressor of the two, Rawat, got run out on the final ball of RCB’s innings on 48.

New pair at top for CSK

With Devon Conway ruled out with an injury, CSK played IPL debutant Rachin Ravindra at the top alongside Ruturaj. The pair launched from the first over, adding 38 for the first wicket in three overs. Yash Dayal broke the stand but failed to stop the flow of runs, as Rachin and Ajinkya Rahane added 33 in four overs to keep the home side ahead in the chase.

Though runs kept coming at one end, newcomer Green picked two wickets of Rahane and Daryl Mitchell, both off bouncers, to keep his team’s chances alive.

The left-handed pair of Impact Player Shivam Dube and Ravindra Jadeja ensured CSK did not suffer any more hiccups, as they both got the team to cross the line with six wickets remaining. 

While Jadeja remained unbeaten on 25, hitting just one six, Dube was the star player, smashing four fours and a six in his 34-run stay at the crease. 

Chennai leads Bengaluru 8-1 in a head-to-head clash after this clash.

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