KOLKATA, May 26:
A fighting 60 by Kieron Pollard and an early breakthrough with his ball by Lasith Malinga helped Mumbai Indians lift its maiden IPL trophy defeating two times champions Chennai Super Kings by 23 runs in the final of the tournament at the Eden Gardens tonight.
The final was played under the shadow of the match-fixing scandal though the stadium was packed to the capacity.
A shadow of its true self, Chennai Super Kings stopped far behind its target of 149 runs to finish at 125 for nine wickets in reply to Mumbai Indian’s 148 as a dazzling show of firecrackers greeted the new champs.
Sachin Tendulkar, who was not in the final eleven of Mumbai Indians because of injury, gushed, ‘ It’s a special moment for me. Though I am not in the final eleven, this is certainly a special moment in my life.’
Mumbai Indians, which played its second final in IPL tournament had lost to the Chennai Super Kings in the summit title clash in 2010. Playing their fifth final in IPL, CSK on the other hand, missed the title in two consecutive years as they had lost to the Kolkata Knight Riders last year.
The winning team got a cash prize of Rs 10 crore while the runner up received Rs 7.5 crore.
Mumbai Indians dealt an early blow to Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team as Sri Lankan pacer Lasith Malinga took the wickets of Mike Hussey, the highest run getter in the tournament and Suresh Raina respectively in the fourth and fifth balls of the very first over. While Hussey was bowled at one, Raina was caught by Dwyan Smith off Malinga without any score. CSK’s score at that time was two runs for two wickets.
Next to fall was dashing batsman S Badrinath, who was caught behind off a Mitchell Johnson’s away deliveerry for a duck in the second over. Even though Dwayn Bravo, who had shone bright with his ball against MI, tried to settle down and take the team to safety, Rishi Dhawan got him out in the last ball of the fifth over. The next two overs saw Ravindra Jadeja and Murli Vijay’s dismissal. As Albie Morkel was the seventh victim, CSK was tottering at 57 for seven wickets at the end of the eleventh over.
However, after Chris Morris was dismissed at 11.3 overs, skipper Dhoni partnered with Ravichandran Ashwin to stem the rot with a cautious batting. But even though wickets remained in tact, CSK was at only 73 for eight wickets at the end of the 14th over.
Dhoni showed a great temperament in pushing ahead with Ashwin, sometimes defending, sometimes taking big hits keeping alive the hopes among his fans for a miracle which alone could have rewritten the day’s tale. But Ashwin was out in the 18th over at the team’s 99, still 50 runs behind the target with only two overs to go. Mohit Sharma was the last batsman to join Dhoni, but it was all about completing a formality. Hitting five over boundaries, Dhoni scored an unbeaten 63.
For Mumbai Indian bowlers, Lasith Malinga, Johnson and Harbhajan Singh shared the exploits, claiming two wickets apiece.
Earlier, overcoming a shaky start that frowned at the team till the 15th over, Mumbai Indians finished with 148 for nine wickets in the final of IPL 6 at the Eden Gardens tonight, leaving the field open for a fight with two times winner Chennai Super Kings.
MI’s total was largely powered by a gritty innings of Kieron Pollard who remained not out at 60—the highest for his innings— off 32 balls. His innings was studded with three sixers and seven boundaries. Had it not been his great innings that paced up the run rate in the late overs, Mumbai would have finished with a much lower score, which seemed a possibility till the 15th over. Till then, Chennai Super Kings restricted MI to a modest score with their very tight bowling and agile fielding, with Dwayne Bravo being the highest wicket taker.
With this, Bravo finished with 32 scalps in the tournament to be the highest wicket taker.
As MI lost its first wicket in Dwayne Smith off pacer Mohit Sharm in the fourth ball of the very first over of the match, the next over saw the dismissal of Aditya Tare, who was clean bowled by Albie Morkel for a naught leaving the team struggling at eight for two wickets.
Smith’s out was definitely was a big disappointment for his team as he had scored 62 and 68 in the two qualifiers.
After the third over ended with MI scoring 16 runs, captain Rohit Sharma was the next casuallty being cheaply caught and bowled by Morkel for two.
Ambatti Rayudu, who hit two boundaries in the sixth over, managed to pull on the show for the team, along with Dinesh Kartik till the end of the ninth over taking the team to its 50, which, however, was a modest score, but yet kept hopes alive for MI for a late resurgence.
But thunder struck again with Chris Morris sending the left stump of Kartik reeling in the second ball of the ninth over to leave the Mumbai outfit at 52 for four wickets.
Pollard, who came next, partnered with Rayudu and made an effort to rescue the team for the dire strait they were in by rotating the score mostly by taking singles and occasional boundaries. He hit the first over boundary in the 13th over off Ravichandran Ashwin. As the Pollard-Rayudu duo looked all settled for a formidable fight, Dhoni brought in Dwayne Bravo to break the partnership which yielded result very soon with Rayudu being bowled off one of his delivery at his personal 37, the second highest for Mumbai Indians batsmen.
Bravo then went on with the scalps of Harbhajan Singh, Mitchel Johonson and Lasith Malinga, one by one to finish with four wickets for 42 runs in four over, However, it was Pollard, who was the lone warrior denying the Chennai team a cakewalk with his big hits, particularly the two consecutive over boundaries in the last two balls. If Bravo shone with his brilliant balls, Pollard then was the toast of the gallery entertaining the crowd with his hard hitting batting.
Meanwhile, Sachin Tendulkar tonight announced his retirement from the cash-rich Indian Premier League soon after Mumbai Indians won their maiden title defeating Chennai Super Kings by 23 runs in the final.
“For World Cup I had to wait for 21 years but for this I had to wait for only six years. Also this is special for me as I won’t be playing in IPL next season,” Tendulkar said at the end of Mumbai Indians’ triumph.
“I think this is the right time to stop playing IPL. Just got to accept the reality that this would be my last season. I am happy that the sending was perfect,” the maestro told the presenter.
“I can’t just wait to touch the trophy and this is the right time to say thank you to everyone. It’s never too late to win a trophy,” a beaming Tendulkar said when another legend Sunil Gavaskar asked whether he would play opening match of Mumbai Indians at Wankhede next year.
Asked about how it felt playing at 40, he said,”Anil (Kumble) said that 40 is just a number. There were optional practise days but entire team turned up. Things don’t come easily but we were prepared to go through the grind.”(Agencies)
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