Seasoned batter Ajinkya Rahane made the most of the opportunity that came his way as he blasted a 27-ball 61 to help Chennai Super Kings trump Mumbai Indians by seven wickets in Match 12 of the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Wankhede Stadium, on Saturday.
Rahane, who was roped in by CSK for his base price of Rs 50 lakh, came into the side as England Test captain Ben Stokes pulled out with an injury. He blasted the fastest half-century of IPL 2023, off 19 deliveries, and put CSK on the road to victory in their chase of a modest target of 158.
Ruturaj Gaikwad played a patient knock of 40 not out, batting through the innings while Rahane went for his shots, scoring 61 off 27 deliveries as CSK reached 159/3 in 18.1 overs after their bowlers had done a brilliant job to restrict Mumbai Indians to 157/8 in their 20 overs after Dhoni had won the toss and asked Mumbai Indians to bat first.
In their chase of a modest target, Chennai Super Kings suffered an early setback when opener Devon Conway fell for a duck,inside edging onto his stumps as he pushed at a back-of-length delivery from Jason Behrendorff. The Aussie pacer claiming the New Zealand batter off the fourth delivery of his first over.
Dhoni pulled a rabbit out of his hat as he sent Rahane to bat and the India Test stalwart did not disappoint his skipper. He launched Behrendorff over the rope with a superb pull shot as the Aussie pacer erred in length and then meted out the same treatment to Arshad Khan, who went down the leg side with a full-length delivery.
The 34-year-old Rahane feasted on Arshad Khan's bowling in the fourth over. After hitting the six, he cut a wide one through point, tapped the next delivery to the boundary past the third man and then scorched another cut shot past cover for three successive fours off Arshad Khan. And when Arshad came around the wicket for the last two deliveries of that eventful over, Rahne straight-drove him for the fifth boundary of the over (4 fours and 1 six). He ended the over with a single for 23 runs.
In the next over, Rahane smacked a pull off his hips for a six off Cameron Green and reached the fastest fifty of IPL 2023 by hammering Piyush Chawla for boundaries off successive deliveries. He struck Chawla for his seventh boundary of the night before lofting the seasoned leg-break bowler straight to Suryakumar Yadav, completing the shot with the bottom part of his bat as the ball came in a bit slow.
Rahane's 61-run knock came off 27 balls and put CSK on course to victory as he and Ruturaj Gaikwad added 81 runs for the second wicket stand. Thanks to his blitzkrieg, CSK scored 68/1 in the Power-play and were 97/2 at the halfway stage. Mumbai Indians were 84/5 after 10 overs.
While Rahane was out, Gaikwad continued to hold the fort as he played patient innings. He and Shivam Dube (28) added 43 runs for the third wicket. Gaikwad (40 not out) and Ambati Rayudu (20 not out), coming in as the Impact Player, guided the four-time champions to a seven-wicket victory with 11 balls to spare, raising 34 runs off 18 balls for the unfinished fourth wicket partnership.
Earlier, Mumbai Indians' batting woes continued at home as they succumbed to some disciplined bowling led by Chennai Super Kings' spinners Ravindra Jadeja (3-20) and Mitchell Santner (2-28) as they could only manage a modest 157/8 in their 20 overs.
The fans had turned in huge numbers to watch the home team return to winning ways after suffering an eight-wicket defeat in their opening match to RCB. But it seems they will have to wait for some more matches to see that the score looks difficult to defend unless CSK make a hash of this easy chase.
Mumbai Indians got off to a dismal start as skipper Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan managed to raise 38 runs for the opening stand. Rohit (21) started with a four off Deepak Chahar over extra cover and then sliced the same bowler over mid-off for another boundary.
Rohit also struck Tushar Deshpande over point for a boundary but was troubled by his Mumbai Ranji teammate, who missed the inside edge with a good outswinger and beat him again a ball later with another outswinger.
Rohit responded by hammering a short one from Deshpande over point for a flat six but the bowler had the last laugh as he castled the India skipper with an angled delivery that skidded in late and squared up Rohit to breach the defense. It was entertaining cricket between a top-class batter and a fine bowler but it did not last long and Mumbai were reduced to 38/1 in the fourth over.
That started the slide for Mumbai Indians as Ishan Kishan departed soon after the Power-play as Mumbai slumped to 64/2 in the 7th over. Kishan drove, cut, and pulled over midwicket Sisanda Magala for three boundaries in the third over taking 14 runs in all.
He hammered Magala for back-to-back fours in the 6th over before holing out to long-on off Ravindra Jadeja, back in the dugout with 32 off 21 balls, hitting five boundaries.
Suryakumar Yadav's poor form of run continued as he was out for 1, MS Dhoni's keen sense of the game came good once again as he used the DRS without hesitation to get the decision in CSK's favour. Yadav was caught behind as he gloved back a faint edge off Mitchell Santner.
Jadeja and Santner then shared the next three wickets to fall -- the former CSK captain from Saurashtra was lucky to snap up a fierce shot drilled by Cameron Green (12) off his own bowling and then trapped Tilak Varma, Mumbai Indians' best bat in their last match against RCB, lbw for 22 (18 balls, 2x4, 1x6). Santner trapped Arshad Khan (2) lbw as Mumbai Indians were in deep trouble at 102/6 in the 13th over.
Tim David hammered Tushar Deshpande for two sixes interspersed by a four to score 18 runs in the 17th over but was out off the final delivery of that eventful over, holing out to Rahane at deep midwicket, dragging a wide one to the outfield in a desperate attempt to add some quick runs. He was out for 31 off 22 balls, hitting one four and two sixes as Mumbai slumped to 131/8.
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