Rachin Ravindra shares his experience batting alongside MS Dhoni in IPL 2025

Rachin Ravindra‘s crucial knock helped the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) defeat the Mumbai Indians (MI) by four wickets in their first meeting in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. It is noteworthy that the game took place on Sunday, March 24, at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium.

Khaleel Ahmed took three wickets and Noor Ahmad took four, enabling the Men in Yellow to limit their bitter opponents to 155/9 after choosing to bowl first. Chennai captain Ruturaj Gaikwad’s scorching half-century captivated the home crowd. Nevertheless, throughout the middle overs, the five-time champions lost a couple wickets. After opening the innings, Rachin dropped anchor and ended up playing with MS Dhoni.

In the penultimate over of the run chase, with just four runs needed to win, the former captain of India went out to bat at the fall of the sixth wicket. Dhoni arrived in the middle to a thunderous reception from the supporters. With two deliveries blocked, CSK needed four runs to win the last over. His team won because Rachin hit the first ball for a maximum. Following his undefeated score of 65 off 45 balls, the Kiwi all-rounder expressed his awe at the audience’s response when Dhoni batted.

Since you’re so focused on winning the game for the team, it can be challenging to completely process everything while you’re in the moment. Even still, it’s difficult to ignore the loudness, the whistles, and the crowd’s cheers for Dhoni. During the post-match press conference, Rachin remarked, “It’s amazing to share the crease with him for the first time.”

The fans, Rachin believed, would have hoped that he would have given Dhoni the strike in the final over so that the stalwart could score the winning runs. But he asserted that the most important thing is to finish the task. The kid hopes that in their next games, Dhoni would finish a good number of games for CSK.

The fact that he is a game legend and that the locals adore him makes it truly unique. The fans probably thought I would allow him to finish the game, but the most important thing is to get the job done. There will undoubtedly be many more games for Dhoni to play for CSK, Rachin remarked.

Rachin Ravindra says Ruturaj Gaikwad made his job easier.

Batting at number three, Gaikwad formed an important 67-run partnership with Rachin, scoring 53 runs off just 26 balls. The New Zealand batsman praised his skipper for simplifying his job. The pitch proved to be challenging, he added, but Gaikwad was undeterred.

Rutu was a superb athlete. He scored like a top striker and made those stunning shots, demonstrating his prowess in a way that was astonishing. Although the wicket had some turn and was occasionally challenging, the pitch was generally decent. Mumbai bowled effectively, but because of the dew element, it didn’t slip through as we had anticipated. But Rutu’s style of play was a credit to his talent and style, and it made my job as the non-striker much easier,” Rachin said.