Home
Ajinkya Rahane’s fastest fifty of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 helped Chennai Super Kings (CSK) register a comprehensive seven-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on April 8.
In the run chase, CSK lost Devon Conway in the first over itself. Replacing an injured Jofra Archer, Jason Behrendorff got the Kiwi opener out for a four-ball duck. In Behrendoff's third over, Rahane hit a six. In the fourth over, Rahane set the tone with one six followed by four consecutive fours off Arshad Khan. Rahane hit Australian all-rounder Cameron Green for a six as well. Rahane then smashed Piyush Chawla for consecutive fours to reach his half-century from just 19 deliveries. This is the joint second-fastest IPL fifty for CSK in IPL history. After powerplay overs, CSK had 68/1 on the board with Ruturaj Gaikwad still in single digits.
In his next over Chawla managed to put an end to Rahane's carnage. He scored 61 runs from 27 balls including seven fours and three sixes. Gaikwad did not attack while Shivam Dube found boundaries. In the 15th over, Kumar Kartikeya managed to take his wicket. Dube scored 28 runs from 26 balls including two fours and one six. Gaikwad shifted gears as well and hit Kartikeya for a six in the same over. Ambati Rayudu took his time and played a few dot balls just to give MI a glimmer of hope. But Rayudu made up for it with three fours. He contributed with a 16-ball 20 whereas Gaikwad remained unbeaten for 40 off 36 balls including two fours and one six to guide CSK to a seven-wicket victory with 11 balls to spare.
Earlier, Dhoni won the toss and opted to field first. Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan got MI off to a good start in the powerplay overs. In the fourth over, Tushar Deshpande got Rohit out bowled. He scored 21 runs from 13 balls including three fours and one six. Kishan continued to attack as MI had 61/1 on the board after powerplay overs. Ravindra Jadeja got Kishan out in his first over. The wicketkeeper-batter scored 32 runs from 21 balls including five fours.
In the next over, Mitchell Santner got the wicket of out-of-form Suryakumar Yadav. In the ninth over, Jadeja struck again and pulled off a brilliant catch of his own bowling to dismiss Green who scored 12 runs from 11 balls. Santner got the wicket of Arshad Khan in his next over. Arshad got out lbw. At halfway stage, MI were 84/5. Boundaries dried up for a while and then Tilak Varma hit Jadeja for a six only to get out off the next ball. Varma scored 22 runs from 18 balls including two fours and one six. Not a single boundary was scored in the next three overs. Tristan Stubbs went for the big shot against Sisanda Magala but ended up getting caught.
Tim David broke free in the 17th over after getting dropped by Gaikwad. He struck two sixes and one four to push the scoring rate but lost his wicket off the final ball of the over. The Australian batter scored 31 runs from 22 balls including one four and two sixes. No boundaries were scored in the 18th and 19th over with tailenders on strike. In the final over Dwaine Pretorius erred and conceded 16 runs including three fours off Hrithik Shokeen's bat. Shokeen's 13-ball 18 helped MI post 157/8.
ALSO READ:
Here's why David Warner was given not out by umpire despite Yashasvi Jaiswal's catch off legitimate delivery
Watch: Trent Boult dooms DC, uproots Prithvi Shaw-Manish Pandey in back-to-back deliveries to bag robust record
