Rachin Ravindra and Shivam Dube Shine as CSK Clinch Victory
Chennai Super Kings 176 for 4 (Ravindra 37, Dube 34*, Green 2-27) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru 173 for 6 (Rawat 48, Karthik 38*, du Plessis 35, Mustafizur 4-29) by six wickets
The Chennai Super Kings, led by a new skipper, got off to a victorious start in their IPL title defence in front of a loud Chepauk crowd on Friday night. Mustafizur Rahman, one of CSK's four debutants, dismissed four of Royal Challengers Bengaluru's top five in the space of ten balls, handing RCB their eighth consecutive defeat in Chennai.
Rachin Ravindra, who was playing his debut IPL game, also contributed to the triumph, scoring 37 off 15 balls at a strike rate of 246.66 on a surface that slowed later in the night. Ruturaj Gaikwad began his maiden game as CSK captain with a four off the first ball, but RCB's Impact Player Yash Dayal ended his innings on 15 in CSK's pursuit of 174.
Cameron Green and Alzarri Joseph then temporarily quieted the Chepauk audience with their opposing styles. While Green bowled slower cutters into the pitch, Joseph bowled at high speeds and produced steep bounce, removing the pitch from the equation.
Shivam Dube, who was on his way back from injury, replaced Mustafizur as an Impact Player for CSK and struggled to 15 off 16 deliveries. But he then turned up the tempo to lead CSK home with an unbeaten 34 off 28 balls, followed by Ravindra Jadeja's unbeaten 25 off 17. MS Dhoni did not get to bat in the chase, but this could be what he hoped for when he handed over the keys to the CSK kingdom to Gaikwad.
Analysis of RCB's Inconsistent Powerplay Performance
After deciding to bat in his maiden IPL game as an opposition player in Chennai, Faf du Plessis smashed seven fours in the first three overs. He took advantage of any breadth Deepak Chahar and Tushar Deshpande provided, frequently thumping it over the off-side infield. Gaikwad got in on the act, pushing extra cover back to deep cover, and Mustafizur had du Plessis holing out to Rachin Ravindra for 35 off 21 balls. Three balls later, Mustafizur found some additional bounce to send Rajat Patidar nicking off for a duck. Then, in the penultimate over of the powerplay, Chahar had Glenn Maxwell guide one straight into Dhoni's gloves for a duck.
After scoring 37 without loss in the first four overs, RCB lost three wickets for five runs in the next two overs.
Mustafizur Rahman Strikes Again with Explosive Performance
Mustafizur then returned in the 12th over, dismissing Virat Kohli and Green within three balls. Kohli pulled a seam-up delivery to deep midwicket for 21 off 20 balls, but Green was bowled by a whippy cutter for 18 off 22 balls. This was Mustafizur's second double-wicket over.
Mustafizur might not have played if Matheesha Pathirana, CSK's death-overs specialist, had been healthy. He finished with statistics of 4-0-29-4 on a night when the other two seamers in his team, Chahar and Deshpande, bowled at well over nine per over. When Pathirana returns to action, CSK will have a pleasant selection headache.
Rawat and Karthik shine as they prop up RCB in latest match
The fact that RCB concluded on 173 for 6 was due to a counter-attacking 95-run partnership for the sixth wicket off just 50 balls, which ended on the final ball of the innings with a Dhoni direct hit.
At one point, RCB had gone 28 balls without a boundary, but Rawat then smashed two in six balls to set up the final overs. In a 25-run 18th over, he walloped Deshpande for 6, 6, and 4. At the other end, Karthik appeared rusty at first, but he combined power and inventiveness to give RCB's innings more oomph.
