IPL 2024: Holder CSK led by Gaikwad make winning start against RCB in opener

Chennai: Defending Champions Chennai Super Kings defeat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by six wickets with 8 balls to spare in the Indian Premier League 2024 inaugural match at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium here on Friday.

Bengaluru fail to break the Chennai jinx yet again as Ruturaj Gaikwad begins his captaincy with a win.

Chasing 174, Rachin Ravindra got the home side off to a flying start but Gaikwad eventually fell to Yash Dayal on 15 off as many balls. However, there was no respite for RCB as Ravindra continued in the same vein along with Ajinkya Rahane. CSK smashed 62 runs in the powerplay for the loss of one wicket. Ravindra ended up falling for 37 off 15 balls while Rahane was later dismissed thanks to a stunner of a catch from Glenn Maxwell on 27 off 19. Shivam Dube then joined Daryl Mitchell as CSK's Impact Player, coming in for Mustafizur Rahman, who was the pick of the bowlers for CSK.

Earlier, RCB made a brisk start, stumbled in the middle, and then finished off in a canter as they reached 173/6 in 20 overs thanks mainly to superb rearguard innings by Aunj Rawat and Dinesh Karthik, who scored 95 runs for the sixth wicket.

The brisk start was provided by skipper Faf du Plessis, but the stumble was courtesy of the early dismissal of Virat Kohli (21), Rajat Patidar (0), Glenn Maxwell (0) Cameroon Green (18) and RCB slumped to 78/5 in the 12th over as Mustafizur Rahman knocked off three of those wickets, and Anuj Rawat (48) and Dinesh Karthik (38 not out) provided the final flourish as RCB reached a decent total in their opening match. Young Bangladesh Mustafizur Rahman was brilliant as he used the conditions well, varied the pace, mixed slow balls well, and ended with 4-29 in four overs.

Skipper Faf du Plessis hammered eight fours in scoring a 23-ball 35 after winning the toss and electing to bat first. He and Virat Kohli, who crossed 12,000 runs in T20 cricket -- the first Indian batter to do so, just held one end up as they reached 41 in the fifth over. Faf waded into Deepak Chahar in the third over, hitting him for 17 runs including three fours, two of them off successive balls. He fell in the fifth over, hitting uppishly to Rachin Ravindra off Mustafizur Rahman, who was making his CSK debut on Friday.

Brief scores:

Royal Challengers Bengaluru 173/6 in 20 overs (Anuj Rawat 48, Dinesh Karthik 38 not out, Faf du Plessis 35; Mustafizur Rahman 4-29) against Chennai Super Kings 176/4 in 18.4 overs (Rachin Ravindra 37, Shivam Dube 34 not out, Cameron Green 2-27)