Chennai’s victory, with Mustafizur being the hero. Mustafizur Rahman gifted an excellent bowling performance, while Rachin Ravindra shone with the bat. Chennai started their campaign by effortlessly defeating Royal Challengers Bangalore to hold onto the IPL trophy.
In the 17th season’s opening match on Friday (March 22), Chennai clinched victory at home with 6 wickets. At the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Bengaluru managed to score 173 runs with 8 balls remaining, falling to the champions for the fifth time.
Mustafizur, the hero of Chennai’s victory, took 4 wickets for just 7 runs in his first 2 overs against Bengaluru. Until the end, he took a total of 4 wickets and restricted Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, and Cameron Green within 29 runs in 4 overs. He was also the match’s best. Mustafizur’s best bowling in the IPL was previously 3 wickets for 16 runs against Mumbai Indians in Sunrisers Hyderabad’s favor in the first match of the 2016 season. On the other hand, Ravindra, the young New Zealand batsman, scored 37 runs off 15 balls, hitting 3 sixes and 4 fours.
Chennai’s new captain Ruturaj Gaikwad’s start was fantastic. The franchise handed over the captaincy to him the day before instead of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Bengaluru had lost all eight matches against Chennai at their home ground. Bengaluru won the toss and chose to bat. Captain du Plessis led the charge with an unbeaten 35 runs off 23 balls without losing any wickets in the first 4 overs. However, they suffered a setback soon after. Mustafizur took two quick wickets in the fifth over, dismissing du Plessis (35 off 23 balls) and Patidar.
In the next over, Deepak Chahar claimed the wicket of Glenn Maxwell. Kohli and Green tried to stabilize but fell victim to Mustafizur again when their partnership seemed to gain momentum. In the twelfth over, Mustafizur dismissed both batsmen within three balls. Kohli scored 21 runs off 20 balls in the match, making him the first Indian batsman to reach 12,000 runs in T20 cricket. Despite Kohli’s and Green’s partnership, Bengaluru managed to score only 173 runs.
Chennai’s chase started with Ruturaj and Ravindra’s partnership of 38 runs. Ruturaj scored 15 runs off 15 balls before departing, while Ravindra was caught out on the boundary. Despite two consecutive sixes from Ajinkya Rahane and Daryl Mitchell, they couldn’t maintain their innings. Rahane scored 27 runs off 19 balls, and Mitchell scored 22 runs off 18 balls. Then, the partnership between Sarfaraz Khan and Ravindra Jadeja added an unbeaten 66 runs. Sarfaraz scored 34 runs off 28 balls, while Jadeja remained not out with 25 runs off 17 balls.
Match Score:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 173/6 in 20 overs (Kohli 21, du Plessis 35, Patidar 0, Maxwell 0, Green 18, Anuj 48, Kartik 38*; Chahar 4-0-38-1, Thakur 4-0-47-0, Tushar 4-0-36-0, Mustafizur 4-0-29-0, Jadeja 4-0-21-0)
Chennai Super Kings: 176/4 in 18.4 overs (Ruturaj 15, Ravindra 37, Rahane 27, Mitchell 22, Sarfaraz 34*, Jadeja 25*; Siraj 4-0-38-0, Dayal 3-0-28-1, Joseph 3.4-0-38-0, Karn 2-0-24-1, Mayank 2-0-6-0, Green 3-0-27-2, Maxwell 1-0-7-0)
Result: Chennai Super Kings won by 6 wickets
Man of the Match: Mustafizur Rahman
