Rachin Ravindra had an outstanding debut at Chepauk where he top-scored for his side and took two catches as well.
In the opening match of IPL 2024, Chennai Super Kings started its campaign in a perfect fashion when they thrashed Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 6 wickets with eight balls to spare. Winning the toss and electing to bat first, RCB got off to a flyer from their skipper Faf du Plessis who scored a quickfire 35 which included 8 fours.
But RCB lost the plot as they lost three wickets for one run. Virat Kohli’s dismissal for 21 didn’t help the cause either. But wicketkeeper Anuj Rawat and Dinesh Karthik stitched together an outstanding partnership to take RCB to a respectable total. Rawat scored 48 off just 25 balls while Karthik contributed 38 off 26 balls.
Chasing 174 to win, CSK got off to a blazing start as well as the debutant Rachin Ravindra took RCB seamers to the cleaners. Captain Ruturaj Gaikwad was dismissed for 15. There were contributions from Ajinkya Rahane and Daryl Mitchell but It was Shivam Dube 34 off 28 balls) and Ravindra Jadeja (25 off 17 balls) who stayed there till the end and took CSK home without any jitters.
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Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Mustafizur Rahman, and Sameer Rizvi made their debuts for CSK in the match. Ravindra was impressive and looked comfortable in his short stay. His quickfire 37 off just 15 balls gave CSK the much needed momentum at the start. His knock inculded 3 fours and 3 sixes.
Ravindra’s knock came to an end when he tried to sweep Karn Sharma for another six but found Rajat Patidar at deep backward square leg, who took a comfortable catch. After his dismissal, Rachin Ravindra was given a fiery send-off from none other than Virat Kohli.
Kohli was clearly seen giving a mouthful to the New Zealand youngster and pointing to go back to the dressing room. In the first innings, Ravindra had also taken a fantastic catch to dismiss Faf du Plessis and was involved in a superb relay catch with Ajinkya Rahane.
WATCH: Ajinkya Rahane and Rachin Ravindra’s collective brilliance sends Virat Kohli back
CSK’s long batting line-up ensured that they were never out of the game despite losing their way in between. Meanwhile, RCB were given a lot to ponder with this defeat. This was CSK’s 8th consecutive win at Chepauk, which is the longest winning streak against a team at a venue in the IPL.
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