Rajasthan Royals

Warne-led Rajasthan Royals who were the underdogs in the tournament stunned major teams to reach the finals of the first edition. It was a thriller with a last-ball finish.

Shane Warne won the toss and decided to bowl first. Parthiv Patel and Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan shared an opening stand of 39 runs in 5.2 overs after which Suresh Raina (43 from 30) joined the party and with some big hits by the skipper himself (29 from 17), Chennai posted a formidable total of 163 runs.

Swapnil Asnodkar who had a terrific first season continued his good run in the final as he scored 24 runs from 20 balls which had four boundaries. Albie Morkel scalped Asnodkar and Kamran Akmal in the same over as Rajasthan slumped to 42/3. From there on, Shane Watson (28 from 19) and Yusuf Pathan (56 from 39) stabilized the innings and added 65 runs for the fourth wicket. Once Watson was dismissed, Pathan took the charge and hit boundaries at will.

The Royals needed 8 runs to win off the last over which looked like a cakewalk. Dhoni gave the ball to Balaji who bowled a brilliant over with a lot of variety. One run was needed off the last ball and Sohail Tanvir hit the winning runs as Rajasthan dug-out ran to the ground to celebrate their much deserved title win.

Player of the match YK Pathan (Rajasthan Royals)

Player of the series SR Watson (Rajasthan Royals)

Batsman of the series SE Marsh (Kings XI Punjab)

Bowler of the series Sohail Tanvir (Rajasthan Royals)

Deccan Chargers

The Deccan Chargers had finished at the bottom of the table in the first season and they had done extremely well to reach to the finals. They posted an average score and did well to defend it.

RCB skipper Anil Kumble won the toss and decided to bowl first. Kumble bowled the first over of the innings in which he scalped Gilchrist for a duck. Kumble went on to scalp three more wickets as he finished a brilliant spell: 4-0-16-4. Herschelle Gibbs remained unbeaten on 55 as Deccan Chargers managed to score 143 runs at the end of 20 overs.

Bangalore batsmen succumbed to the pressure of a final match as they lost wicket at regular intervals. Jacques Kallis and Manish Pandey added 20 runs for the first wicket before Kallis was bowled by Harmeet Singh. Van der Merwe (32 from 21) and Ross Taylor (27 from 22) tried to rescue the innings but they couldn’t do much with no support from other batsmen. RCB needed 15 runs from the last over with Robin Uthappa still at the crease, but they failed to find boundaries and fell short by 6 runs.

Player of the match A Kumble (Royal Challengers Bangalore)

Player of the series AC Gilchrist (Deccan Chargers)

Chennai Super Kings

Chennai Super Kings had reached the finals of the Indian Premier League for the second time in three seasons. Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat first.

The Super Kings had contributions from everybody as Murali Vijay (26 from 19) and Mathew Hayden (17 from 31) added 44 runs for the first wicket. Suresh Raina, the big match player for CSK once again played a crucial innings and it was his innings (57* from 35) that took Chennai to 168 runs.

Mumbai Indians had the batting line-up to chase such a total. They lost Dhawan (0) early in the innings after which Sachin Tendulkar (48 from 45) and Abhishek Nayar (27 from 26) added 66 runs for the second with. But towards the end, it became a tough ask for them as they surprisingly batted Pollard at number eight. With 55 needed from the last three overs, Pollard scored 22 runs from Bollinger’s third over but he perished in the next over and Chennai won their maiden IPL title by 22 runs.

Player of the match SK Raina (Chennai Super Kings)

Player of the series SR Tendulkar (Mumbai Indians)

Chennai Super Kings

Chennai had the experience of playing in an IPL final, something which went against the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Dhoni once again won the toss in a crucial match and decided to bat first. Murali Vijay and Mike Hussey opened for Chennai and made a mockery of the Bangalore bowling attack. The duo added 159 runs for the first wicket before Hussey perished in the 25th over trying to hit a big shot. It was the opening partnership between Vijay (95 from 53) and Hussey (65 from 45) that helped Chennai cross the 200-run mark.

The only man who could have accepted the challenge for Bangalore was Chris Gayle. But Ashwin dismissed the Jamaican in the first over that came as a huge setback for RCB. Bangalore could never recover from the early shock and in spite of some useful contributions from Virat Kohli (35 from 32) and Saurab Tiwary (42 from 34), they fell short of the mammoth total by 58 runs giving Chennai their second consecutive IPL title.

Player of the match M Vijay (Chennai Super Kings)

Player of the series CH Gayle (Royal Challengers Bangalore)

Kolkata Knight Riders

It was a high-octane clash as after witnessing a lot of struggle and controversies in the past five years, Kolkata Knight Riders had moved into the final of Indian Premier League for the first time. Chennai Super Kings were not new to the big stage as they stormed into the final match for the fourth time since the tournament’s inception in 2008.

Dhoni won the toss and took no time in deciding to bat first on his home turf. Mike Hussey and Murali Vijay opened the innings and Vijay who scored a blistering knock against the Delhi Daredevils in IPL qualifier 2, continued his terrific form and at one stage, it looked like he was taking the match away from KKR. Vijay (42 from 32) was dismissed in the 11th over after which Suresh Raina once again proved his mettle with the bat in big matches. He clobbered the bowlers all across the ground and didn’t even spare Sunil Narine who conceded 37 runs from four overs, most of which were scored by Raina. With contributions from Hussey (54 from 43) and Raina (73 from 38), Chennai once again posted a huge total of 190 runs.

KKR’s in-form skipper Gautam Gambhir perished in the first over which came as a major setback for his team who were depending on him for a solid platform. Just when everyone thought that CSK had got the right opportunity to make a match of it, Manvinder Bisla launched something which has been the strength of CSK for many seasons: counter-attack. Bisla, who was included in the team in place of Brendon McCullum, played a blinder and took off the pressure from all the other batsmen. While Bisla played a match-winning knock, the veteran Jacques Kallis (69 from 49) used all his experience to make a match of it. Manoj Tiwary hit two consecutive boundaries to make sure that his team witnessed the winning moment for which they had worked extremely hard throughout the season.

Player of the match MS Bisla (Kolkata Knight Riders)

Player of the series SP Narine (Kolkata Knight Riders)

Mumbai Indians

Two most deserving teams – Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings – reached the final of India Premier League’s sixth edition, which took place at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. MI’s skipper, Rohit Sharma, won the toss and elected to bat first. But they started on a poor note as they lost their openers, Dwayne Smith and Aditya Tare, in quick succession. Rohit too couldn’t manage to play a captain’s knock and got out after scoring mere two runs. Dinesh Karthik (21) and Ambati Rayudu (37) gave MI’s some solidity in the middle. But it was the whirlwind knock by Kieron Pollard (60 of 32 balls) in the death overs that helped the Mumbai franchise to set up a decent total of 148 runs in front of CSK.

However, in front of the solid batting line up of CSK, the total wasn’t looking challenging at all. But Lasith Malinga had something else in store for the two-time IPL champions, CSK. In the first over of CSK’s chase, Malinga gave them two massive blows. In consecutive balls he sent back Michael Hussey and Suresh Raina to the pavilion. Soon, Mithcell Johnson took the wicket of S Badrinath to push the Dhoni-led side completely at the back-foot. CSK never recovered from those early blows and kept loosing wickets at regular intervals. Arguably the best finisher of the game, MS Dhoni was the only batsman who fought hard till the end with his 63-run knock. But even that wasn’t proved enough for CSK to lift their third IPL trophy. MI won the match comprehensively by 23 runs to lift their maiden IPL trophy. Certainly, a well deserved title for the Mumbai team.

Player of the match Kieron Pollard (Mumbai Indians)

Player of the series Shane Watosn (Rajasthan Royals)