CSK opens with a bang, beat RCB by 6 wickets

• Chennai Super Kings beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 6 wickets in the IPL 2024 opener at MA Chidambaram Stadium
• Batting first, the Challengers racked up 173 for the fall of 6 wickets which was chased easily by Super Kings in 18.4 overs
• Mustafizur Rahman bagged the 'player of the match' award for his 4-29

The much awaited sporting event has finally started and after the initial shock of MS Dhoni not leading the Chennai Super Kings side, the young skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad gets a victorious start to this year's IPL edition. Opting to bat first, Faf du Plessis' side got a good start and managed to score 41 runs during powerplay when Mustafizur got the skipper as his first victim.

Rajat Patidar and Glenn Maxxwell scored ducks and added to the woes of RCB reducing it to 42/3. Crowd's favourite Virat Kohli didn't proved to be of much help and gave his wicket to Mustafizur as well after scoring 21(20) a rather slow innings for an IPL opener.

Wicketkeeper Anuj Rawat was in great form and smashed 4 fours and 3 sixes. However, he missed his fifty by a whisker and was run out by MS Dhoni on the score of 48(25). At the end of 20 overs, RCB were 173/6 with Dinesh Kartik not out on 38(26). Mustafizur Rahman bagged 4-wickets by giving just 29 runs and was awarded 'player of the match'.

Gaikwad-led CSK was now in action and they had 174 to chase. A few good shots from the skipper and a cracking innings by Rachin Ravindra 37(15) provided a similar cracking start to the team. After both the openers return to pavlllion at 71/2, Ajinkya Rahane and Daryl Mitchell provided some stability the the chase.

Cameron Green then came to RCB's rescue and sent back both the batsmen to the dugout giving some hope to the RCB. However, the joy was short lived as impact player Shivam Dube and Ravindra Jadeja played some big shots and took CSK home with 8 balls to spare.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru XI: Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Dinesh Karthik, Anuj Rawat (wk), Karn Sharma, Alzarri Joseph, Mayank Dagar, Mohammed Siraj

Chennai Super Kings XI: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Rachin Ravindra, Ajinkya Rahane, Daryl Mitchell, Ravindra Jadeja, Sameer Rizvi , MS Dhoni (wk), Deepak Chahar, Maheesh Theekshana, Mustafizur Rahman, Tushar Deshpande