Chennai Super Kings (CSK) kicked off their IPL 2024 campaign against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) with a comfortable 6-wicket victory in the tournament opener on Friday, March 22 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. It was an all-round effort from the Men in Yellow as Mustafizur Rahman's four-wicket haul was key for CSK in restricting RCB to 173 despite the flourish at the end and then starting from Rachin Ravindra to Ravindra Jadeja, all played their role, which was just attack.
Since Rachin batted with a strike rate of 242, it became easy for the other batters to play the game, especially for Shivam Dube, who has been given the specific role of hitting the spinners. RCB was also aware of the same and hence deployed their faster bowlers Cameron Green, Mohammed Siraj and Alzarri Joseph against him with the short-ball plan. Dube, who is vulnerable against short-pitched bowling did get troubled a few times but was able to get through that and hit Alzarri Joseph for a six in the penultimate over of the innings.
Joseph bent his back to bowl a bouncer aimed towards Dube's head and the left-hander pulled it ferociously for a massive six to reduce the target to just two runs. Dube's shot impressed even the former CSK skipper Dhoni, who with his facial expressions appreciated the hit. Watch the video here:
Dube stitched an unbeaten 66-run partnership with Jadeja to see his side through as RCB's bowling remained too one-dimensional. Despite getting a couple of wickets in quick succession in the middle overs, RCB couldn't stop CSK from getting to the target. RCB don't have much time to introspect as they will be back in action at home in Bengaluru on Monday, March 25 against the Punjab Kings while CSK will host the Gujarat Titans in a repeat of last year's final.
