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IPL Season Opener
In the IPL 2024, Virat Kohli was seen giving an expletive-laden send-off to Rachin Ravindra, who made his debut for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL and tore into the Royal Challengers Bangalore bowling attack. CSK won the season opener by 6 wickets, but Kohli failed to impress with the bat on his return to competitive cricket. Kohli was at his animated best on the field as he tried to lift the mood in the middle after a middling batting show from the visiting team. However, he looked rusty on his return to competitive cricket for the first time since January.
Rachin Ravindra’s debut for Chennai Super Kings
The former captain managed just 21 from 20 balls in the IPL 2024 opener. Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Virat Kohli will look for a better show when they host the Punjab Kings in their next game in Bengaluru on Monday, March 25. Just when Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) seemed to be cruising after winning the toss and opting to bat, Super Kings’ New Zealand allrounder Rachin Ravindra came up with a stunning catch on his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut to dismiss the dangerous-looking RCB captain Faf du Plessis, which triggered a mini-collapse.
Highlights of the Match
RCB were 41 for no loss in 4.2 overs when Du Plessis’ attempt to hit another boundary off Mustafizur Rahman found Ravindra running in from deep covers to lunge forward and take a stunning catch. Mustafizur then dismissed Rajat Patidar for a duck off the last ball of the fifth over to make it 41 for 2. One run later, in the last over of the powerplay, Deepak Chahar removed Glenn Maxwell for zero to make things worse for the visitors in Chennai. Anuj Rawat’s 48 and Dinesh Karthik’s 38 lifted Bengaluru to 173, but a 95-run stand for the 5th wicket was not enough as the Super Kings chased the target down in just 18.4 overs.
Mustafizur Rahman’s Magical Spell
Kohli was undone by a Mustafizur Rahman bouncer in the 12th over of the RCB innings. They struggled to hold one end when the visitors lost an array of wickets, going from 41 for 0 to 72 for 5. Cameron Green became Mustafizur’s fourth wicket when the Australian all-rounder was cleaned up by the Bangladesh pacer, which reduced RCB to 78 for 5 in 11.4 overs. It was a high-pressure game on the opening night of IPL 2024 in MA. Chidambaram when the Chennai Super Kings took on the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Mustafizur Rahman is the Player of the Match for his brilliance with the ball, taking 4 for 29 from his four overs.
Video Links
Virat Kohli was seen giving an expletive-laden send-off to Rachin Ravindra. You can watch the video here. Watch Royal Challengers Bangalore lose three quick wickets. Here.
CSK in Chasing
Chasing 174 to win, CSK rode on knocks from debutant Rachin Ravindra (37 off 15), seasoned Ajinkya Rahane (27 off 19), Shivam Dube (34 not out off 28) and Ravindra Jadeja (25 not out off 17) to romp home in 18.4 overs. Asked about the chase, Gaikwad said everyone has their role clarified. “Everyone is a stroke player in our side, even Jinx. There is role clarity in the batting unit. Helps a lot. Lots of positive, but two-three things to work on. The batting, everyone chipped in. If we had a few batters from the top-order batting through, the chase would have been easier,” Gaikwad said at the post-match presentation.