Mumbai Indians successfully defended a below par 150-run target and lifted their record fourth Indian Premier League title following an edge of the seat thriller against Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 2019 final at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday.
Clinical bowling performance from CSK which saw Deepak Chahar emerge as the pick of the lot with three for 26 in his four overs saw CSK restrict the opposition to 149 after MI opted to bat. Shane Watson led the chase with a fighting 80 off 59 before he was run out in the fourth delivery off the last over.
Captain MS Dhoni too didn’t last long and departed via a questionable run out decision. On the fourth ball of the 13th over, Hardik Pandya bowled a short delivery to Watson. The veteran allrounder only managed to glove the delivery as the ball went to the left of Lasith Malinga, who fired the throw at the bowler’s end, but the ball only went as far as the mid-off. Dhoni decided to test the fielder only to see Ishan Kishan hitting the bull’s eye.
Sachin Tendulkar, the Mumbai Indians Team Icon, who has been with the franchise since its inception reckoned the Dhoni run out was the ‘key moment’ in the match. (ALSO READ: Imran Tahir finishes with Purple Cap, takes most wickets for a spinner in single season)
“The key moment was to get Dhoni run-out. Also, in patches when Jasprit Bumrah came and bowled those critical overs, especially after Lasith Malinga gave that expensive over,” he said after the match.
“Even after that Krunal Pandya over that went for a lot of runs (the 18th over), Bumrah came in very hard. I think Malinga finished off really well, that was a beautiful over to finish off. The couple of finals that we have played here, we have finished it really well even defending a total like 120-odd.”
Meanwhile, head coach Mahela Jayawardene lauded Rohit’s captaincy to back the experienced Malinga to bowl the final over.
“We had the game in our corner when MS got out. Great decision by Rohit to go back to experienced players. We took a punt and held back Pollard and Pandya. Pollard has had a good record against CSK. I think this is why big players come to the party. Rahul Chahar was brilliant and created the pressure throughout for us. Malinga held his nerves and did well,” he said.
The Sri Lanka veteran pacer also drew high praise from bowling coach Shane Bond. “Today is a culmination of a lot of hard work. We knew 150 was below par, but we knew we had quality in our bowling line-up, Malinga was superb in the last over,” he said.
