On this day, Mumbai Indians (MI) lifted their first-ever Indian Premier League title by securing victory against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by 23 runs at Eden Gardens.
Both the teams had 11 wins in 16 league matches, with CSK at the top of the points table with a better net run rate. In Qualifier 1, MS Dhoni-led side won by 48 runs against MI.
In Qualifier 2, Mumbai secured a confidence-boosting victory against Rajasthan by four wickets.
In the finals, Rohit Sharma-led side elected to bat first. Dwayne Smith started the show with a boundary on the third ball of the over, but Mohit Sharma trapped him plumb LBW in the subsequent ball.
Then, Albie Morkel came to attack in the second over and clean-bowled Aditya Tare for a duck. The Protea bowler was impressive with his line-lengths to affect a caught and bowled dismissal of Rohit Sharma (2) in the fourth over of the innings.
Although the wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik (21) displayed composure to build the innings, he chopped on a good-length ball off Chris Morris. At this moment, MI were reeling at 52/4 in 9.3 overs.
It was a solid partnership between Ambati Rayudu and Kieron Pollard to steer the team in a fine fashion, with odd boundaries. It was a perfect yorker by Dwayne Bravo to dismiss Rayudu (37) in the first ball of the 16th over, with the team at 100/5.
Harbhajan Singh (14) provided good support to the team with three boundaries. In the final over delivered by Bravo, Pollard (60*) hit two sixes which helped the team to post a competitive total of 148 on the board.
In the fourth ball of CSK’s innings, Lasith Malinga was at his absolute best to break the defence of Michael Hussey (1) with his searing yorker. However, Suresh Raina (0) holed out to Dwayne Smith at square leg in the subsequent ball.
In the second over, Subramaniam Badrinath tried to play a lavish drive off Mitchell Johnson but ended up edging it to Karthik. After this dismissal, CSK was stuttering at 3/3.
Bravo hit three boundaries to recover the team from early wickets, but his soft dismissal off Rishi Dhawan initiated the further collapse of Super Kings. After that, the experienced players like Murali Vijay and Ravindra Jadeja played loose shots to give away their wickets.
It was a terrific yorker from the spinner Pragyan Ojha to clean-bowled dangerous Morkel (10) in the 11th over. However, the exploits from MS Dhoni (63*) could not help CSK, as MI won the game by 23 runs and lifted their first-ever IPL title.
The all-rounder Pollard was named ‘Player of the Match’ for his contribution in both departments.