Dubai: It couldn’t have been a better script for Mahendra Singh Dhoni. There are doubts whether MS Dhoni will be seen in action again in the IPL again… more so in the yellow colours of Chennai Super Kings (CSK). The talismanic skipper made it Sunday a night to remember as CSK defeated Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 27 runs to win the IPL for the fourth time since the inception of the tournament. Their earlier triumphs had come in 2010, 2011 and 2018, but Dhoni himself would be the first to admit that Sunday was indeed a very special day for the Kings. The Kings after putting up 192 for three in their 20 overs, restricted the opposition to 165 for nine.
Chasing a victory target of 193 runs, the Knights started in a rousing fashion with Venkatesh Iyer (50, 32b, 5×4, 3×6) and Shubman Gill (51, 43b, 5×4) putting on an opening stand of 91 runs in just 9.1 overs. However, once Iyer was dismissed, caught brilliantly at the point boundary by a diving Ravindra Jadeja off the bowling of Shardul Thakur (3/38), KKR simply collapsed and could only manage in their 20 overs. Well, a team that suffers a middle-order collapse so regularly doesn’t deserve to win and CSK were rightfully the side to emerge on top.
The batting order of KKR after the Gill and Iyer resembled something like a mobile number. Nitish Rana (0), Sunil Narine (2), Eoin Morgan (4), Dinesh Karthik (9), Shakib Al Hasan (0), Rahul Tripathi (2) all failed to get into double figures. After Iyer’s dismissals, the Knights lost their next seven wickets for the addition of only 34 runs and with it, their aspirations of a third title disappeared in thin air. Only Shivam Mavi (20, 13b, 1×4, 2×6) and Lockie Ferguson’s (18 n o, 11b, 1×4, 1×6) bravado brought KKR close to the total set up by CSK. Had the others showed such determination, the Knights could have been smiling after the end of the game.
All the other CSK bowlers came to the party to spoil the dreams of the Knights. Josh Hazlewood (2/29), Ravindra Jadeja (2/37), Deepak Chahar (1/32) got their names in the wicket column thanks to the hara-kiri committed by the batsmen of the Knights.
Earlier Faf du Plessis (86, 59b,7×4, 3×6) played a magnificent knock to guide CSK to 192/3. It was an incredible batting effort from Chennai with every batter contributing to the score as Kolkata faltered in their pursuit to apply the choke in middle overs.
Inserted into batting first, CSK had a flying start as 50 runs came for no loss in the power-play. Ruturaj Gaikwad (32, 27b, 3×4, 1×6) got off the mark by taking three boundaries off Shakib’s first two overs. Lockie Ferguson came under the attack as Gaikwad and du Plessis took 12 runs off him. Du Plessis then struck a boundary against Shivam Mavi and Varun Chakravarthy to match with Gaikwad’s pace.
Post timeout, the opening stand of 61 runs was broken by Narine as Gaikwad, who also became the Orange cap holder, holed out to long-off. Du Plessis broke the spell of 17 singles by carting Shakib over long-off before Robin Uthappa (31, 15b, 3×6) slammed him over deep mid-wicket for the second six of the over.
Du Plessis slammed Ferguson for back-to-back fours before ending the over with a six over long-off to reach his half-century in 35 balls.
Moeen Ali (37 n o, 20b, 2×4, 3×6) took Mavi for two sixes over cow corner and down the ground to bring 150 up for CSK. Ferguson’s horror match continued as Ali went inside-out for a four before Du Plessis smacked him for a six and four to complete 19 runs off his final over.
Brief scores: CSK 192/3 (Faf du Plessis 86, Moeen Ali 37 n o, Sunil Narine 2/26, Shivam Mavi 1/32) beat KKR 165 for 9 (Shubman Gill 51, Venkatesh Iyer 50, Shardul Thakur 3/28, Josh Hazlewood 2/29, Ravindra Jadeja 2/37) by 27 runs.