The arch rivals of the Indian Premier League – Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians – faced each other in the final of the 2013 season. It was the second time both teams were up against each other in the final of the IPL. Previously in 2010, CSK defeated MI to clinch their maiden IPL title. Now Mumbai had a chance to take their revenge. It was the first season of Rohit Sharma as an IPL captain, and he ended up lifting the trophy. But the credit for winning the title goes to Kieron Pollard, who played an unreal innings in the final.
Let’s see how this match progressed and how Pollard showed his class to the world.
Playing XIs
Here are the playing XIs of both teams for the final:
Mumbai Indians Playing XI
- Dwayne Smith
- Aditya Tare
- Dinesh Karthik
- Rohit Sharma
- Kieron Pollard
- Ambati Rayudu
- Harbhajan Singh
- Rishi Dhawan
- Mitchell Johnson
- Lasith Malinga
- Pragyan Ojha
Chennai Super Kings Playing XI
- Michael Hussey
- Murali Vijay
- Suresh Raina
- MS Dhoni
- Ravindra Jadeja
- Badrinath
- Dwayne Bravo
- Albie Morkel
- Chris Morris
- Ravichandran Ashwin
- Mohit Sharma
1st Innings Summary
MI skipper won the toss and elected to bad first on a tricky surface. Dwayne Smith started the innings by smashing a boundary on 3rd ball of the innings. But Mohit Sharma made a brilliant comeback to trap him in front of the stumps on the next delivery. Albie Morkel cleanup Aditya Tare’s stump on the very first delivery of the second over. It turned from bad for the Mumbai Indians as the skipper Rohit Sharma also walked back to the pavilion in the fourth over. Morkel got his second wicket, and the batting team was reduced to 16 for 3.
Dinesh Karthik and Ambati Rayudu tried to repair the damage by adding 36 runs for the fourth wicket. But then Karthik dragged one onto his stumps to leave Mumbai 52 for 4 in the 10th over. Mumbai were in all sorts of trouble at the halfway stage of their innings. Kieron Pollard was sent in at #5, and he was determined to turn things around. He started by playing a delightful straight drive against Chris Morris on the first ball of his innings. He and Rayudu stayed together for 48 runs and consumed 34 deliveries. After 15 overs, MI were placed at 100 for 4. Dwayne Bravo rattled the stems of Ambati Rayudu to end his innings of 37(36).
Now all the responsibility was on Pollard’s shoulders to finish it strong for the Mumbai Indians. Harbhajan Singh gave him some assistance with an 8-ball 14. MI kept losing wickets towards the back end and were reduced to 135 for 9 with three balls left in the innings. Pollard didn’t get the strike in the final over for the first four deliveries. Dwayne Bravo had picked four wickets till that point, but Pollard showed him no respect.
He finished the innings with two consecutive sixes, and Mumbai were able to reach 148 in 20 overs. The Caribbean hard hitter played a blinder of a knock and scored 60 runs in just 32 deliveries. His innings was played at a strike rate of 187, while all the other batsman in his team had a combined strike rate of 94.
2nd Innings Summary
The target didn’t look huge, but it was surely going to be challenging on such a track. The highest run-getter of the tournament, Mike Hussey, was cleaned up by a stunning yorker in the first over by Lasith Malinga. The in-form batsman was back in the dugout, and CSK were under pressure early. Malinga got the wicket of Suresh Raina on the next delivery to put his team on top in the first over of the chase. S Badrinath followed in the next over by getting caught behind on a wide delivery from Mitchell Johnson. Chennai were in tatters at 3 for 3 in the second over.
Dwayne Bravo was sent in at #5, and he tried to be positive. However, he also departed on the final ball of the power play after scoring 15. Chennai Super Kings finished the powerplay at 35 for 4. In the next over, Ravindra Jadeja played an awful shot at losing his wicket to Harbhajan Singh. Murali Vijay was batting with patience and had held one till then. But Mitchell Johnson got rid of him, too, in the following over to make it 39 for 6. The match looked like all over for CSK at that point. Albie Morkel smashed a six to show his intent, but he also got his stumps rattled in the 11th over.
Harbhajan got Chris Morris caught behind in the next over to reduce the chasing side to 58 for 8. Almost all hope died for the Super Kings as they required 91 more runs in just 51 balls. But MS Dhoni was in no mood to give up, and he kept trying to get close to the target. R Ashwin became the 9th wicket to fall in the 18th over as the scorecard read 99 for 9.
Dhoni tried his level best, but the game slipped away from their hands a long time ago. CSK finished their innings at 125 for 9, and the Mumbai Indians won the final by 23 runs. MSD’s scintillating knock of 63 off 45 went in when Mumbai claimed their Maiden IPL title. Kieron Pollard got the Player of the Match award, which he richly deserved.
Image Source: crictracker.com
Scorecard
Here’s the scorecard of the IPL 2009 final:
Mumbai Indians Innings
Batsman Runs Balls Strike Rate 4s 6s
Dwayne Smith 4 4 100 1 0
Aditya Tare 0 1 0 0 0
Dinesh Karthik † 21 26 80.76 3 0
Rohit Sharma (c) 2 5 40 0 0
Ambati Rayudu 37 36 102.77 4 0
Kieron Pollard 60 32 187.5 7 3
Harbhajan Singh 14 8 175 3 0
Rishi Dhawan 3 3 100 0 0
Mitchell Johnson 1 2 50 0 0
Lasith Malinga 0 2 0 0 0
Pragyan Ojha 1 1 100 0 0
Extras 5
TOTAL 148/9
Bowler Overs Runs Wickets Economy Rate
Lasith Malinga 4 22 2 5.5
Mitchell Johnson 4 19 2 4.75
Pragyan Ojha 4 28 1 7
Rishi Dhawan 1 6 1 6
Harbhajan Singh 3 14 2 4.66
Kieron Pollard 4 34 1 8.5
Chennai Super Kings Innings
Batsman Runs Balls Strike Rate 4s 6s
Michael Hussey 1 2 50 0 0
Murali Vijay 18 20 90 2 0
Suresh Raina 0 1 0 0 0
S Badrinath 0 3 0 0 0
Dwayne Bravo 15 16 93.75 3 0
Ravindra Jadeja 0 2 0 0 0
MS Dhoni (c)† 63 45 140 3 5
Albie Morkel 10 10 100 0 1
Chris Morris 0 1 0 0 0
Ravichandran Ashwin 9 18 50 0 0
Mohit Sharma 0 2 0 0 0
Extras 9
TOTAL 125/9
Bowler Overs Runs Wickets Economy Rate
Mohit Sharma 4 26 1 6.5
Albie Morkel 3 12 2 4
Chris Morris 4 25 1 6.25
Ravichandran Ashwin 3 22 0 7.33
Ravindra Jadeja 2 19 0 9.5
Dwayne Bravo 4 42 4 10.5
