“The most unexpected knock of IPL 2023!”- Twitterati can’t stop praising Ajinkya Rahane for his gem of a knock vs the Mumbai Indians
And what else the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) fans will need now than to cherish Rahane's knock over the weekend?
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Ajinkya Rahane
Can one write off Ajinkya Rahane after the blitzkrieg he produced against Mumbai Indians on Saturday (April 9) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai? For a few days, certainly not. Rahane’s knock came in a game the fans of the Indian Premier League (IPL) were waiting for. And what else the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) fans will need now than to cherish Rahane’s knock over the weekend? He smashed the fastest fifty of this season’s IPL off just 19 balls.
To the horror of the CSK fans, the Yellow jersey lost the wicket of star opener Devon Conway. The fans must be wondering what if they witness something different here, despite the decent target of 158. Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad are the dangerous openers of the IPL. But Conway departed for a duck off four balls in the very first over by Jason Behrendorff.
Entered Rahane then. From the word go, Rahane was on fire. In the blink of an eye, the 34-year-old raced to his maiden fifty of this season off just 19 balls. He batted at a strike rate of a monstrous 225.93, scoring 61 runs from 27 balls, laced with seven fours and three maximums.
Though Rahane already did the damage to the home team, Piyush Chawla slowed down the run flow for a while when he trapped the big fish, with an easy catch by Suryakumar Yadav. Many fans laughed at CSK when they signed Rahane at the auction, but now, all they are doing is heaping praise on the batsman.
Check Twitteratis’ reactions to Ajinkya Rahane’s glorious knock against Mumbai Indians
In total, Rahane has played more than 150 IPL matches, amassing over 4,000 runs, with the highest being an unbeaten 105-run knock. This half-century was his 29th one. He has two centuries under his belt.
As far as the match goes, CSK won it without breaking a sweat, by seven wickets. After Rahane’s wicket, Ruturaj Gaikwad, who remained not out, kept playing slowly, scoring 40* off 36 balls, while Shivam Dube also added 28 runs from 26 balls. Ambati Rayudu, the Impact Player, contributed 20* runs from 16 balls.
Notably, this was CSK’s first win in five years at the Wankhede stadium. And with this defeat, Mumbai Indians lost their second consecutive match. Sure, they wouldn’t want to repeat last year’s terrible campaign this season also and will be eyeing to bounce back in their next match against Delhi Capitals.
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