The lefthander was also sidelined for the IPL 2025 opening match against MI.
The emergence of Rachin Ravindra as the top-choice opener for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) has become apparent in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, with Devon Conway benched for the second successive game.
The Kiwi youngster had walked out with Rahul Tripathi to start the innings in the first match against Mumbai Indians. He scored a superb 65 off 45 balls to put CSK in a safe position while chasing 156. He was also the top-scorer for CSK with 41 off 31 balls in their 50-run defeat against bitter-royals Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Rachin’s rise up the ranks also means no opening spot for the much-experienced Conway, who has been a mainstay in CSK’s top order for the last few years. The national teammate has become too big a name to be consigned to the bench in the last year across formats. His emergence is one of the reasons behind CSK moving away from Conway.
Conway tallied 252 runs from seven games in his debut season in IPL 2022. He was pivotal in their title win in IPL 2023 with a total of 672 runs from 15 innings, which included six fifties. He, however, missed the IPL 2024 season with an injury. In 2024, Rachin played 10 matches for CSK, amassing 222 runs. While his average was not too impressive, a strike-rate of 160+, in sync with the modern times, makes the Kiwi a more tempting pick than Conway, whose game is slightly more conventional.
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CSK: Rachin Ravindra, Rahul Tripathi, Ruturaj Gaikwad (C), Vijay Shankar, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(WK), Jamie Overton, Ravichandran Ashwin, Noor Ahmad, Matheesha Pathirana, Khaleel Ahmed.
RR: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag (C), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Shimron Hetmyer, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Sandeep Sharma, Tushar Deshpande.
Besides the ability to score quickly and anchoring the innings, Rachin also offers a bowling option with his left-arm spin for CSK in the powerplay. It adds to the management’s preference for him.
CSK head coach Stephen Fleming had also made it clear ahead of the clash against RCB that there’s not much chance to change their playing XI.
“It’s only been one game and one game we have won. We are not a team that tinkers (the lineup) that much,” Fleming said when asked whether the team will bring in someone like Vijay Shankar or Andre Siddarth.
CSK, despite hiccups in the middle-order, had defeated arch-rivals Mumbai Indians by four wickets. However, their weaknesses were laid bare by RCB, who claimed a victory at Chepauk after a gap of 17 years.
Rajasthan Royals had done a double against CSK in IPL 2023 where they beat them home and away. In Chennai, RR managed to edge out the eventual champions with a margin of just three runs while in the return fixture at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur, they won by 32 runs.
CSK made two major changes in the middle-order against RR on Sunday dropping Sam Curran and Deepak Hooda for Jamie Overton and Vijay Shankar. But there was still no place for Conway and a top-order fumble saw them lose to Rajasthan Royals, unable to chase down the target despite a tired effort from the middle-order that is looking very shaky.
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