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Ajinkya Rahane shatters MS Dhoni’s 11-year-old record after whirlwind 23-run over as CSK thrash MI in IPL 2023
The talk of CSK's second consecutive win in IPL 2023 centered around the stunning knock that Ajinkya Rahane played on his debut for the franchise.
Spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Mitchell Santner helped an injury-laden Chennai Super Kings (CSK) bounce back on Saturday evening at the Wankhede Stadium to beat Mumbai Indians (MI) by seven runs. But the talk of CSK's second consecutive win in IPL 2023 centred around the stunning knock that Ajinkya Rahane played on his debut for the franchise. He scored IPL 2023's fastest half-century and also broke captain MS Dhoni's 11-year-old record in the tournament as well.
Chennai faced an early blow in their chase of 158 in Mumbai as fast bowler Jason Behrendorff dismissed opener Devon Conway on just the fourth ball of the innings. Chennai have banked heavily on their opening pair of Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad for batting, as seen in their match-winning century stand at home against Lucknow Super Giants earlier this week. But On Saturday, Gaikwad found able assistance from Rahane, who rather took charge of the partnership, leaving the youngster a mere spectator on the other end of the crease.
After easing off the pressure with a six over fine leg against Behrendorff in his seventh ball, Rahane took down uncapped Indian bowler Arshad Khan in the fourth over of the match, hitting him for 23 runs in that over.
Rahane started off with a six over fine leg again before smashing four consecutive boundaries - the first was slashed past point, the next was guided towards third man fence, the third down the offside as well while the final one was more like Sachin Tendulkar, punched through the ground for a straight drive. The over ended with a single.
Five deliveries later, which included two more boundaries and a six, Rahane completed his half-century in just 19 balls. It was the joint-second fastest for a CSK batter, tying him with Moeen Ali's 19-ball hit in 2022. Suresh Raina still stands atop with his 2014 feat of 16-ball half-century against Punjab Kings. Dhoni stands third on the list with his 19-ball feat for CSK against Mumbai Indians in 2012.
"I always enjoy playing at Wankhede. I have never played a Test here. I would want to play a Test here. Important thing about Mahi bhai and Fleming is they give freedom to everyone. Mahi bhai told me to prepare well," Rahane had said after the match.
