There were plenty of new beginnings for both teams in the opening match of IPL 2024, but Chennai Super Kings eventually prevailed in the familiar climes of the M A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday night. Rachin Ravindra made an impressive debut with a breezy 37 (15b, 3×4,3×6) and Ruturaj Gaikwad made a quietly confident start in the field as CSK’s new commander-in-chief. CSK came up winners by 6 wickets with eight balls to spare.
The first powerplay of IPL 2024 saw Ruturaj Gaikwad and MS Dhoni in the thick of the action. Not Dhoni as the field marshal; he was kept busy with his big gloves. In his first day at work as captain of the hugely successful CSK franchise, Gaikwad directed all the traffic and it didn’t appear that Dhoni was running the show like it seemed in 2022 when CSK first tried a change of guard, unsuccessfully, with Ravindra Jadeja.
With all the focus on Virat Kohli’s early intent, he got to face only six balls in the powerplay. RCB captain Faf du Plessis was the one to speed up proceedings. After RCB had raced to 33/0 in the first three overs, Gaikwad rung in changes to shift the momentum and push the visitors back to 42/3 at the end of the first six.
The first roar from the home crowd was heard in the second over when Dhoni dived to his left to prevent four byes. A slight grimace later, he was down to business again. That’s how life is going to be for Dhoni, still squatting at 42.
Dhoni would constantly signal to the fielders to cut the angles, but Gaikwad was taking his own decisions. He introduced a slip fielder in the third over bowled by Deepak Chahar. With no swing in sight, quickly he revoked the call.
After Chahar’s low intensity over was punished by du Plessis for 17 runs, the first sign of spin was seen with Maheesh Theekshana coming in to bowl the fourth over. Mustafizur Rahman bowled next, a fielder was pushed back to deep cover and du Plessis 35 (23b) holed out. In no time, Rajat Patidar edged one straight to Dhoni to give Rahman his second wicket.
Gaikwad brought Chahar back with a change of end for his customary third powerplay over. That’s where he got Maxwell to slice straight to Dhoni. “It’s obviously a privilege (to lead CSK), but I want to try and be in my own shoes,” Gaikwad had said at the toss. In Dhoni’s presence as a guide and fielding aid, Gaikwad made an early impression.
Fizz to the fore
RCB lost their way further, as Rahman earned himself two more scalps. A short ball which Kohli 21 (20b) couldn’t get on top of went to deep midwicket — a smart relay catch completed by Ajinkya Rahane and Ravindra. Then, the Bangladesh quick bowled another version of his slower ball, a wristy cutter from over the wicket that castled Cameron Green, 18 (22b), playing his first RCB match. In 12 overs, RCB were down to 79/5.
Then came the recovery. Anuj Rawat and lower-order specialist Dinesh Karthik resisted playing too many attacking shots to begin with, but 83 runs came off the last six overs with the real acceleration coming in the final three.
Rawat took the lead and tore into pacer Tushar Deshpande in the 18th over. That 21-run over was followed by an expensive 16-run over off Rahman, spoiling the left-armer’s figures slightly. From being 2-0-7-4, he finished with 4-0-29-4. The Karthik-Rawat 50-ball 95-run stand gave RCB 173 runs to defend.
Short ball ploy
CSK were cruising at 92/2 after the first 10 overs. That’s when one saw the first interesting passage of play as RCB decided to utilise the two-bouncers-an-over rule in the middle overs. In the 11th over, Rahane, having pulled one for a six, couldn’t keep another pull down and holed out to deep square leg off Green for 27 (19b). The next over saw Alzarri Joseph running in full steam with bouncers against impact sub Shivam Dube and Daryll Mitchell who looked uncomfortable. More of the same from Green’s next over saw the back of Mitchell 22 (18b). At 114/4, for the first time in the chase, CSK were in a spot of bother. Surprisingly, RCB didn’t push the short-ball ploy further and introduced Maxwell’s off-spin. Jadeja was quick to pounce and ease the pressure.
Dube ended up passing the short ball test to see them home with an unbeaten 34 off 28 balls.
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