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Chennai Super Kings (CSK) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by six wickets in the first match of IPL 2024 on Friday, March 22, at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai. It is the eighth straight victory for the yellow franchise against RCB at their home ground, losing only one match.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batted first in the contest after winning the toss. Anuj Rawat (48) and Dinesh Karthik (38*) starred with the bat in the middle-order to help their side to 173/6 in the first innings. Only Faf du Plessis (35) played well in their top order but failed to convert his start.
Mustafizur Rahman stole the show with the ball for CSK by picking up a four-wicket haul in his debut game for the yellow franchise. The rest of the pacers had an off day for the hosts.
In reply, Rachin Ravindra (37) hit a flurry of boundaries to give CSK a brisk start. His opening partner, Ruturaj Gaikwad, scored a run-a-ball 15 at the other end before departing on the final ball of the fourth over. Rachin also perished in the seventh over while persisting with his aggressive approach.
RCB bowlers employed a short ball strategy successfully in the middle phase of the innings. Consequently, they picked up the wickets of Ajinkya Rahane (27) and Daryl Mitchell (22), who fell after getting starts. Shivam Dube (34*) and Ravindra Jadeja (25*) weathered the storm initially and then pounced on the loose deliveries to power their side home in the 19th over.
Fans on social media enjoyed the curtain raiser of IPL 2024 between Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore. They expressed the same through some hilarious memes on social media platforms.
Here are some of the best memes related to the game:
"Felt we were 15-20 runs short"- RCB captain Faf du Plessis after loss against CSK in IPL 2024
At the post-match presentation, Royal Challengers skipper Faf du Plessis reflected on the loss and said:
"When you play here, you feel like you have to get ahead of the game in the first six overs. Chennai is a very good team in the middle overs. They squeeze you with spin. We lost a few more wickets in the first seven and then the guys had to stabilise the innings. Felt we were 15-20 runs short."
On the short-ball ploy, Du Plessis continued:
"They were batting at the pace where they were always in front of the game. We were trying to find opportunities to get wickets. With Dube, we saw he was not comfortable with the short stuff. In the end, we just did not have enough runs. If you look at the stats, it is very much in favour of batting first (at this ground)."
DC and PBKS will square off in the second match of IPL 2024 on Saturday afternoon in Mohali.
