Former Indian cricketer, Aakash Chopra praised veteran Indian batter, Ajinkya Rahane, for his blistering knock for Chennai Super Kings (CSK), as Mumbai Indians (MI) lost against CSK by 7 wickets.
Rahane was on song in his debut game for MS Dhoni led-CSK, as he scored 61 runs off 27 balls to give his side a blazing start while chasing 158 runs. Now, the 4-time champion side has won two out of three games in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. Besides, they are currently placed 4th on the points table.
Aakash Chopra reckons Ajinkya Rahane shatters the age barrier with his knock-
“Devon Conway got out at the start but after that one-sided. Ajinkya Rahane – out-of-syllabus question. He knows every nook and corner of this ground. He came and hit, and that too in a very technically correct fashion. He said that it might be a 20-over match but 30-plus also do well in that,” said the Ex- Indian Test opener.
After easing off the pressure with a six over fine leg against Jason Behrendorff on facing his seventh ball, Rahane took down uncapped Indian pacer Arshad Khan in the fourth over of the match, hitting him for 23 runs to set the momentum, eventually, 4-times champions side won the game with 11 balls remaining.
The fastest 50 of the season so far and it's from @ajinkyarahane88 ?#MIvCSK #TATAIPL #IPLonJioCinema #IPL2023 | @ChennaiIPL pic.twitter.com/PZzmJJ999V
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) April 8, 2023
“I thought Ruturaj Gaikwad played very well. There is ego at times. When you are in such good form, you try to match your partner shot for shot. But he said that the big picture was to make his team win and that he would remain unbeaten till the end for that even if he doesn’t have a fifty to his name,” he further added.
Whereas in the run chase, CSK lost their opener, Devon Conway, in the very first over, but Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ajinkya Rahane then added over 80 runs. Rahane was the highest scorer for the Men in Yellow with his 61 runs and Ruturaj remained unbeaten on 40 to chase down the target of 158 runs, Indians star left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja was later awarded player of the match for his figures of 3/20 in the match.
“There were two or three big performances, of which one was Ravindra Jadeja, who picked up three wickets and took an amazing catch off his own bowling. The other was Ajinkya Rahane but I am going with Jadeja. Sir Ravindra Jadeja ka jaadu sar chad ke bola and he is my Player of the Match,” stated Chopra on Ravindra Jadeja.
While Rohit Sharma-led MI was able to post 157/8. Ishan Kishan’s 32 runs were the highest score for the home side. At one stage, MI was 64-1 in the 7th over of the game, but as their opener batter Kishan got out, they fell like a pack of cards. In between all the chaos for MI, CSK’s left-arm spinning duo comprising Jadeja and Mitchell Santner picked 5 wickets in the game.
In their fourth match of IPL 2023, the MS Dhoni-led side will take on Rajasthan Royals (RR) on April 12 at Chennai.
Also read: IPL 2023: Ajinkya Rahane Shatters MS Dhoni’s Record With A Breezy Knock On His CSK Debut