Snubbed by Team India Ajinkya Rahane silenced all his critics with a scintillating knock on his debut match for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) against Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday (April 8).
Rahane left his skipper MS Dhoni behind to crack the second fastest fifty for the Yellow army in the IPL as he smoked a stunning 19-ball half century against MI. Not just this, he has also recorded the fastest fifty of the sixteenth season of the cash-rich league so far. While chasing a 158-run target, Rahane walked in at no.3 after the dismissal of Devon Conway on a duck in the very first over by Jason Behrendorff.
Rahane didn't take much time to get off the mark with two runs. In the following ball he cracked a spectacular boundary to end Behrendorff's over in style.
Rahane changed the gear and gave a glimpse of his intent by smashing a six in Behrendroff’s second over. What happened next took everyone by surprise. The veteran Indian batter took Arshad Khan for cleaners in the fourth over and collected 23 runs in it. Rahane started the over with an incredible six and followed it up with four boundaries on the trot. Featuring for his seventh IPL franchise since 2008, 34-year-old Mumbaikar cruised to his fifty off just 19 balls with back-to-back fours off Piyush Chawla in the sixth over.
Fastest IPL fifties for CSK (by balls faced):
16 - Suresh Raina vs PBKS, Mumbai WS, 2014
19 - Ajinkya Rahane vs MI, Mumbai WS, today
19 - Moeen Ali vs RR, Brabourne, 2022
20 - MS Dhoni vs MI, Bangalore, 2012
20 - Ambati Rayudu vs MI, Delhi, 2022
Fastest IPL fifties against MI (by balls faced):
14 - Pat Cummins (KKR), Pune, 2022
18 - Rishabh Pant (DC), Mumbai WS, 2019
19 - Ajinkya Rahane (CSK), Mumbai WS, today
Rahane's blitzkrieg ended in the eighth over after his magnificent know of 61 off 27. Rahane was sold to the CSK for his base price of Rs 50 lakh at the IPL 2023 auction. CSK was the only team which made the move to rope in Rahane.
Jadeja returned with an exceptional spell of 20/3 as MI managed to post a total of 157/8 in their stipulated 20 overs. Tushar Deshpande and Mitchell Santner too chipped in with two wickets each.
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