 Chennai Super Kings have won the third edition of the IPL by beating Mumbai Indians
in the finals of the tournament played at the Dr. DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
The Chennai Super Kings won the match by 22 runs, in a clinical display
that saw the Mumbai Indians being totally outplayed.
The Super Kings had batted first on winning the toss, and for obvious reasons,
given that the pitch at the DY Patil Stadium was expected to play a tad slower
and lower as the game went on. Also, it was a pressure final and one does not
expect teams batting second to chase down totals too easily.
However, the Super Kings started off rather slowly, and were quickly pegged
back by the Mumbai bowlers who scalped both the openers before the score had
reached fifty. The run rate was not too great either and the side struggled
to get a move on despite the presence of Suresh Raina, who was struggling
to make contact with the ball.
Raina was dropped twice as well, and the two simple catches cost the side dear.
S Badrinath was out after smacking two boundaries, but that only allowed the
pair of Dhoni and Raina to flower. Dhoni started off aggressively and that rubbed
off onto Raina as well, and the pair smashed their runs at the rate of 12 runs
per over.
Dhoni did get out after getting the start, but that meant that Suresh Raina
was already propelling himself towards a big enough total. He completed his
half century off 33 balls, and with Albie Morkel slamming a six as well,
the Chennai Super Kings piled up a massive 168 in the finals of the tournament.
In reply, the Mumbai Indians needed a quick start to hold a chance, but Shikhar Dhawan played out a maiden over first up and was then dismissed. Sachin
Tendulakr struggled through his hand injury but with Abhishek Nayar batting
like he was very rusty, the Mumbai Indians were only 67 in the 12th over when
Nayar was run-out.
For some strange reasons, Harbhajan Singh was sent above Saurabh Tiwary,
but did not last long enough and when Tendulkar was also dismissed, asking rate
had mounted up to more than 12 runs per over. By the time Pollard started to
have a go, they needed more than 50 off the last three overs and that was never
going to be possible off a very strong Chennai bowling.
The Super Kings finally won by 9 wickets to lift the IPL, whereas Mumbai Indians had to remain content with a second position. Both the sides have
now qualified for the Champions League T20 along with Bangalore.
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