Chennai Super Kings, the reigning champions, kicked off their title defense with a victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore by 6 wickets at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday in the inaugural match of the 2024 Indian Premier League edition.
After choosing to bat first, RCB posted a total of 173 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in their allotted 20 overs. However, the defending champions successfully chased down the target with a little over one over to spare.
RCB faced adversity at one stage, finding themselves at 78 for the loss of five wickets. However, a partnership of 95 runs between Anuj Rawat and Dinesh Karthik steadied the innings and boosted the team’s total to a competitive score.
This partnership highlighted RCB’s batting depth despite the early setbacks in the top order.
Reflecting on the game in a media interaction afterward, Karthik emphasized the importance of adopting an aggressive approach to keep the pressure on the opposition.
“Yes, we have a long batting lineup,” Karthik stated. “What you want to be doing is put pressure on the opposition throughout, and that’s why we like to play attacking shots,” he added.
He stressed the significance of assessing the situation and adjusting the innings’ pace for players entering towards the end of the innings.
“And sometimes it becomes important for the back-end players to soak up the pressure and try to see what is required at that stage, and that’s what Anuj and I did,” mentioned Karthik, originally hailing from Chennai.