Mumbai Indians pipped Chennai Super Kings to a record fourth Indian Premier League (IPL) title when Rohit Sharma’s men triumphed by the narrowest of margins — by one run — to beat Chennai Super Kings in a nail-biting final at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday.
With 31 last-over finishes in this season, it was only fitting that the final result was decided in the last ball.
With CSK needing two runs off the last ball, Shardul Thakur was caught plumb in front of the wicket by Lasith Malinga as the Mumbai bench erupted in joy.
In the process, Rohit also became the first player to win five IPL finals — four with MI and one with Deccan Chargers. He also holds the distinction of being the only player to win all five finals he has been a part of.
After winning the toss and batting first, Mumbai helped itself to a competitive 149/8 in its 20 overs with Kieron Pollard smashing a 25-ball 41. In reply, Chennai could just manage 148/7 in 20 overs.
CSK was down in the dumps at 82/4 in the 13th over but Shane Watson (80 off 59 balls, 8 fours, 4 sixes) and Dwayne Bravo (15 off 15 balls) stitched a 50-run partnership to help Chennai stage hopes of a comeback.
Mumbai too helped Chennai by dropping Watson thrice – on 31, 42 and 55 and the Australian almost made Mumbai pay dear for the lapse but Malinga had other ideas.
In the company of Bravo, Watson took his time and smacked the Mumbai bowlers to all parts of the ground in the final five overs. The duo added 51 runs in 34 balls after Chennai was pushed to the wall at 82/4 in 12.4 overs.
But in the end, the valiant effort didn’t prove enough.
The final was a classic case of grabbing the moments that mattered. First Pollard made use of Chennai's lapse in the death by sending the bowlers on a leather hunt and then the Mumbai bowlers came to the party to restrict Chennai.
READ |IPL getting better and better, says Sunil Gavaskar
The Chase
Chennai, in pursuit of 150, got off to a good start with Faf du Plessis taking charge of the chase with a 13-ball 26.
He smashed Krunal Pandya for 14 runs in three balls but perished when he missed a darting yorker from the left-arm spinner to be stranded outside the crease.
Watson and Suresh Raina added 37 runs in 32 balls with Raina just managing 8 (14 balls) before he was trapped in front by Rahul Chahar.
The southpaw looked out of sorts during his stay at the wicket as he was unable to find the sweet spot of the bat.
While middling the balls were at a premium, Watson at the other end kept the scoreboard ticking with some vigorous shots. He survived a caught behind off Mitchell McCleangahan but his luck ran out when he reviewed a plumb leg-before call.
Jasprit Bumrah then bounced out Ambati Rayudu with the batsman looking in no shape to execute his pull. It was excellent captaincy from Rohit as he brought back his premier bowler after Rahul Chahar sent Raina back.
It was Ishan Kishan who turned the tide in Mumbai’s favour when his direct hit caught Mahendra Singh Dhoni short of the crease at the non-strikers end.
Dhoni wanted the second run, off an overthrow, and Ishan running in from long-off picked up the ball in a flash and hit the bulls eye in a flash. Dhoni was livid at himself on taking a chance off an overthrow and it put more pressure on Chennai.
Earlier, Deepak Chahar realised that the T20 format can be as ruthless and also a great leveller after his impressive bowling performance hogged the limelight.
After being slammed for 20 runs in his second over, the fast bowler came all guns blazing to register a mind-boggling 17 dot balls out of the 24 he sent down, leaking just six more than what he gave away in his second and picking up three wickets — including that of Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit.
READ | Throwback - After the IPL spectacle, focus shifts to World Cup!
His incredible spell of 4-1-26-3 restricted Mumbai to 149/8 with Pollard slamming an unbeaten 41 off 25 balls with three fours and three sixes to give the Mumbai total some respectability.
Mumbai started with a lot of promise. Quinton de Kock took on Chahar carting him for three sixes — over deep mid-wicket, over third man and then over long-off — as Mumbai raced to 30/0 in three overs.
It was then the mastermind Dhoni, who proved his stature as an astute thinker of the game. He changed ends for Shardul Thakur and Chahar and it reaped rich dividends.
First, Thakur removed de Kock (29 off 17 balls) and then Chahar sent Rohit on his way as MI slumped to 45/2 at the end of the powerplay.
Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan couldn’t get going as CSK strangulated the batsmen with lack of pace and room. Mumbai fell to scoring from 10 an over to just over six an over in a matter of six overs (between overs 3-9).
READ |IPL: A burgeoning brand!
Imran Tahir sent Suryakumar after the batsman played on and after Shardul accounted for Krunal, an excellent caught and bowled attempt, Mumbai was staring down a barrel at 89/4 in the 13th over.
Ishan too didn’t last long offering a catch to Raina at covers and it was then left to the maniac duo of Hardik Pandya and Pollard to resurrect the innings — in little time.
The duo added 39 off just 22 balls as they treated the CSK bowlers with disdain. Pollard and Pandya were harsh on Thakur, milking him for 16 runs in the 18th over, but Pandya couldn’t continue the assault. He misread a yorker from Chahar and was caught plumb infront.
Pollard, with the tail, tried to take as much strike as possible as MI scored 47 in the last five overs to finish on a near-competitive total and his innings was the game changer in the end.
Comments
SHARE