IPL24 : Mustafizur 4 wkts & good batting show enables CSK to outplay RCB in season opener

  

CSK outplayed RCB to win by 6 wickets as the IPL2024 kicks off to a bright start .

Even though the captain changed, Chennai Super Kings had no problem winning.  They beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 6 wickets at home.  Ruturaj Gaikwad got off to a good start by stepping into Mahendra Singh Dhoni's shoes.  Mustafizur Rahman is the hero of Chennai with the ball.  Rachin Ravindra, Shivam Dube and Ravindra Jadeja played well with the bat.  Virat Kohli started the IPL with yet another loss.

 After winning the toss and batting , Faf Duplessis started the innings well.  He started opening his hands from the first over.  He played most of the balls in the first four overs.  The RCB captain hit four boundaries in one over of Deepak Chahar.  37 runs came in the first 4 overs with Faf looking in excellent touch .  In the fifth over, Chennai captain Ruturaj gave the ball to Mustafizur.  The picture of the game changed in that over.  He dismissed the fearsome Duplessis for 35 runs.  Duplessi went to hit the big shot.  Due to the variation in the speed of the ball, the ball did not go far.  Ravindra took a good catch in the outfield.  Rajat Patidar got out for zero runs in that over as he was caught behind . 

Chahar gave Bengaluru a big blow in the next over.  He returned Glenn Maxwell for zero runs again caught behind .   Kohli didn't get to play much of the ball in the beginning.  Played some big shots after  3 wickets went down .  Kohli returned to Mustafizur's ball while trying to increase the speed of scoring runs.  He went to hit a six.  Ajinkya Rahane caught on the boundary.  He threw the ball to Ravindra before stepping on the boundary.  Kohli scored 21 runs.  Mustafizur also dismissed Cameron Green (18) in that over knocking over his stumps .  RCB lost 5 wickets for 78 runs under the power of Bangladesh's pacer.

 It seemed that RCB will not be able to score more runs.  Young Anuj Rawat and experienced Dinesh Karthik pulled the team out of a difficult situation.  Last season did not go well for Karthik.  But this time he played well in the first match.  Rawat did not get a regular chance last time.  He batted well in the few matches he played.  This time, he recognized his ability in the first match.  He was playing big shots fluently against the pacers.

Two batsmen scored 95 runs in 60 balls.  Dhoni runs out Rawat off the last ball.  Before that, however, they took the team's run to the place of struggle.  RCB scored 173 runs losing 6 wickets in 20 overs.  Rawat scored 48 runs.  Karthik remained unbeaten on 38 runs.

 Chennai got off to a good start chasing 174 runs.  In the absence of Devon Conway, Ravindra came to open with Ruturaj.  This left handed batsman caught the eye in the first match abd started playing sparkling shots particularly on the on side .  Chennai's two openers were getting quick runs.  Bengaluru's impact player Yash Dayal gave Chennai the first blow.  He returned Ruturaj for 15 runs after troubling him ouside off stump .  Ravindra continued to play big shots and hit gorgeous sixes .  He was finally dismissed by Karn Sharma.  Ravindra scored a dazzling 37 runs off 15 balls.

 Despite the fall of wickets, Chennai's run rate did not slow down.  Both Rahane and Darryl Mitchell played with open  mind from the start.  They were hitting big shots in every over.  92 runs in the first 10 overs.  Chennai needed 82 runs to win in the last 10 overs.  

 Bangalore did not give up the fight.  Green brought them back into the match.  First he dismissed Rahane for 27 runs and then Mitchell for 22 runs both getting caught in the deep .  The responsibility of winning Chennai fell on the shoulders of Ravindra Jadeja and impact player Shivam Dube.

 Chennai needed 46 runs to win in the last five overs.  Jadeja and Shivam led the team to victory without hurrying.  Both ran well and did not play all out attack .  RCB also made some mistakes in fielding.  They had to pay for it.  In the end Chennai won the match with 8 balls to spare.  Shivam remained unbeaten on 34 and Jadeja on 25 runs. Mustafizur for his 4 wickets was the player of the match .