Ajinkya Rahane played a little gem of an innings as defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) successfully chased down Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) 173/6 in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season opener at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai Friday. (Match Blog | Scorecard | Full Coverage)
Rahane, 35, arrived in the middle after the fall of the newly elevated captain Ruturaj Gaikwad in the fourth over. The veteran batter took five deliveries to play arguably the shot of the match, a six over long-on with a flat bat.
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Rahane, the out-of-favour India batter, had arrived in Chennai after leading Mumbai to their record-extending 42nd Ranji Trophy final. And he scored 27 runs off 19 balls in his first IPL 2024 outing.
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After a brief hiccup, the five-time champions completed the chase with relative ease. Shivam Dube hit the winning runs, a four off Alzarri Joseph in the 19th over for a six-wicket win. CSK will next play Gujarat Titans in a replay of last season's final on Tuesday at the same venue. RCB will play host to Punjab Kings at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Monday.
Earlier in the day, Faf du Plessis won the toss and opted to bat first. After a promising start, the visitors were pegged back by a brilliant Mustafizur Rahman who took four wickets for 29 runs in his CSK debut.
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But a rearguard action, featuring a 50-ball 95-run stand between Dinesh Karthik and Anuj Rawat, helped RCB post a respectable total. Rawat, who got run out to a direct hit from Mahendra Singh Dhoni, was the top scorer -- 48 runs off just 25 balls.
