Chennai, March 22 Defending champions Chennai Super Kings made a winning start in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 in their den as they rode on a superb four-fer by Mustafizur Rahman and cameos by their middle-order to beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 6 wickets with eight balls remaining in the opening match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Friday.
Mustafizur, who is called Fizz by his friends, destroyed RCB's innings with 4-29 and helped them restrict RCB to 173/6 despite a superb rearguard partnership of 95 between Anuj Rawat (48) and Dinesh Karthik (38 not out). In reply, Chennai made a poor start and lost a couple of wickets in the middle before cameos by Ajinkya Rahane (27), Daryll Mitchell (22), Shivam Dube (34 not out) and Ravindra Jadeja (25 not out) as CSK reached 176/4 in 18.4 overs, winning the match with a bit of fuel in the tank.
This was CSK's eighth successive win over RCB at the Chepauk Stadium with RCB's last win over CSK at this venue coming over a decade back.
CSK's new skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad and Rachin Ravindra could manage only 38 runs for the opening wicket on a pitch that became slow as the day progressed.
Gaikwad was out for a run-a-ball 15, caught on the second attempt by Cameron Green at first slip off Yash Dayal. Ravindra was in blazing form as he hammered 37 off 15 balls, hitting three boundaries and as many sixes. But he was out just when he was looking good for a big one, going for a shot too much and holing out to Rajat Patidar off Karn Sharma -- CSK were 71/2 in the 7th over.
Ajinkya Rahane and Mitchell kept CSK in the hunt but once they were out, CSK were 110/4 but still on course for victory. Shivam Dube and Ravindra Jadeja shared an unbeaten partnership of 66 runs that sealed victory for CSK.
Dube scored 34 off 28, hitting four boundaries and sealing victory with a six while Jadeja struck 1 17-ball 25 not out studded with just one six as Chennai gave skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad a winning start.
For RCB, Cameron Green claimed 2-27 in three overs, but RCB had at least 20 fewer runs to defend while their bowling lacked the edge to slice through the CSK batting lineup.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 173/6 in 20 overs (Anuj Rawat 48, Dinesh Karthik 38 not out, Faf du Plessis 35; Mustafizur Rahman 4-29) lose to Chennai Super Kings 176/4 in 18.4 overs (Rachin Ravindra 37, Shivam Dube 34 not out, Ajinkya Rahane 27; Cameron Green 2-27) by six wickets.
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