WATCH: Ajinkya Rahane's Acrobatic Save Denies Glenn Maxwell a Six at Chinnaswamy

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) held their nerves to defeat Royal Challengers Bangalore in their own backyard by 8 runs, in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match no. 24 on April 17. MS Dhoni and Co played like like a unit and produced a team effort to register a win in Bengaluru despite all the ups and downs.

Chennai’s performance can be summed up by Ajinkya Rahane’s acrobatic save in the field. On the penultimate ball of the ninth over, Glenn Maxwell hoicked a Ravindra Jadeja delivery over long-off. Maxwell had hit the shot pretty well, and the ball looked set to be going for a six. However, Rahane, fielding on the long-off boundary, timed his jump to perfection and sent the ball back inside the rope.

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Rahane managed to save five runs with his superb athleticism on the field. Indian Premier League shared the video of Rahane’s fabulous save on their official Twitter handle.

As Chennai Super Kings won by only eight runs, it’s safe to say that Rahane’s acrobatic save made all the difference in the end.

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Royal Challengers Bangalore’s skipper Faf du Plessis had won the toss and elected to field first. When Mohammed Siraj dismissed in-form Ruturaj Gaikwad in the third over of the game, it looked like Chennai were in trouble. But Devon Conway and Ajinkya Rahane steadied the ship and blunted Royal Challengers’ bowling attack. Conway went on to smash 83 runs in just 45 balls. He was ably supported by the likes of Shivam Dube and Moeen Ali. Chennai eventually put up an imposing target of 226 runs on the board.

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While chasing a daunting target, the hosts had the worst possible start as they lost Virat Kohli in the first over. After Mahipal Lomror was also dismissed without troubling the scorers, Glenn Maxwell and Faf du Plessis tore into Super Kings’ inexperienced pacers to power Royal Challengers to 75 for 2 in the powerplay. The duo didn’t stop with the end of the powerplay and went on a rampage to take their team to 141 off 2 in 12 overs.

But after Maheesh Theekshana got the prized wicket of Maxwell, Chennai came back into the game. In the end, CSK bowlers showed remarkable discipline and restricted Royal Challengers to 218. Chennai Super Kings have climbed to the third position on the points table after their impressive win.

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