This game of cricket is full of surprises. Before the first qualifier encounter of the IPL, the Chennai Super Kings had the edge over the Mumbai Indians. But in the end, Rohit Sharma’s team surprised CSK to make it to the IPL final. Despite losing that match, CSK had played well to surprise the Royals Challenger Bangalore in the second qualifier to reach the final.
Again on the day of the big final, CSK had a slight advantage over Mumbai at the Eden Gardens on Sunday. In front of a packed house, CSK captain MS Dhoni won the toss and surprisingly chose to field first on a pitch that conducive for big strokes.
But Dhoni’s decision backfired after Mumbai were off to a rousing start and finished with a score of 202 for five. In reply, CSK could only manage 161for eight and lost final tie by 41 runs. This win gave Mumbai their second IPL win after their maiden 2013 title.
They are the third team after CSK and Kolkata Knight Riders to win the IPL trophy twice in last eight years. Incidentally, Mumbai’s first IPL win came against the same opposition, CSK, and at the same venue, the Eden Gardens, two years ago.
Not many expected Mumbai to play the kind of cricket they eventually played this season. They lost some of their initial games by close margins, but never lost their heart to stay alive in the competition. Their win against CSK in the final is the biggest turnaround story of the IPL so far.
It’s still tough to believe that Mumbai, which lost to a low-ranked team like the Delhi Daredevils in the league stage, could go all the way. Their captain Rohit Sharma deserved the maximum credit for what Mumbai achieved this year.
Like last year’s champions Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai wasn’t the most consistent team in the league stages still they could achieve a remarkable victory because of the self-belief of their players and support staff.
On a big day like this, it was Rohit who led the charge and ensured Mumbai were always ahead of CSK. He batted with extreme aggression and made a fine 50 off just 26 balls to give initial momentum to his team.
Mumbai opener Lendl Simmons too played a very crucial role and shared an important stand with Rohit to help Mumbai reach a very commendable target. Towards the end, both K Pollard and Ambati Rayudu too contributed richly.
It was also surprising to see the way CSK bowlers performed on a big day like this. None of their front line bowlers could match the Mumbai batsmen. It was only Ashish Nehra who could match his opponent in his first spell.
By the time, his second spell happened, he went for a plenty of runs, as Mumbai were in complete control of things. Even with the bat, as long as Dwayne Smith (58 off 48 balls) was at the crease, CSK were nurturing the dream to coming close to the winning target.
But other the CSK batsmen had no answer to Mumbai’s bowling. Starting from Lasith Malinga, Mitchell McClenaghan, Vinay Kumar to Harbhajan Singh, all of them got wickets. Unlike CSK, Mumbai were good with their catching and fielding. In all, Mumbai were better team than CSK in every department of the game.
