Mumbai Indians won a high scoring and fitting finale to the Champions League t20 (CLt20) which ended with Sachin Tendulkar held aloft in Delhi and Rahul Dravid down but never to be forgotten. The Rajasthan Royals so nearly chased down the 203 they required to win, but lost their last six wickets for 14 runs to be 169 all out and hand Mumbai the trophy by a 33-run victory margin.
Mumbai Indians (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Winning captain Rohit Sharma, who added the CLT20 to Mumbai’s Indian Premier League(IPL) title, was full of praise for his team and the departing legends, “It was a nerve-biting game. I would like to thank Sachin and Dravid for what they’ve done for Indian cricket.
“We thought the dew would come in. Maxy finished off really well.
“We held our nerve in the end”, he added. “Winning this was like the icing on the cake.”
Chasing an unlikely 203 to win, Ajinkya Rahane (65 from 57 balls) and Sanju Samson (60 from 33) had stormed the Royals to 117-1 in the 12th over, but Samson dollied a catch to Harbhajan Singh at short third-man and Rahane holed out in the deep to give the veteran spinner the first scalp en route to his man of the match 4 for 34.
Rahane wins the Golden Bat for his 288 CLT20 runs at 57.60 and he played pure cricket, his 5 fours and 2 sixes as classy as you’ll see.
But it was Samson that showed that there is a next generation of Indian batsmen waiting to replace Dravid and Tendulkar. His 4 fours and 4 sixes saw his arms extend elegantly through the ball. When he was at the crease Rajasthan’s hopes were high.
After they had departed only Stuart Binny (10) made double figures as Harbhajan and co took control. Kieron Pollard (3 for 31) nearly ended the match with a hat-trick as the Royals wheels came off and the fireworks lit the Delhi sky with Mumbai smiling.
Rahul Dravid (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The stage had been set, the scene a packed Delhi stadium, the noise huge and the prize the CLt20 trophy. It would be unfair to suggest that 20 players on the field didn’t matter as for them it was an international domestic final. But for the majority of the worldwide audience and for cameramen in the ground there were two people that mattered most.
Mumbai Indians were asked to bat first and posted 46 for one in their six over powerplay for the loss of their leading man, Tendulkar.
The Little Master has been nowhere near his best in this CLT20, but as he walked out in the blue of Mumbai for the final time his eyes were focussed and his body exuded a renewed determination.
He will have been disappointed to walk through his team-mates guard of honour with 15 from 13 balls to his name after being bowled by Shane Watson. He’d just played a vintage cover driven boundary and was setting himself for more.
Dravid came and went later, lowering himself to number eight in the order for the chase, and a 2-ball 1 run innings was as far from the elegant and illustrious career as it’s possible to imagine.
Both men received their ovations, guards of honour, but as through the rest of the tournament were not the men that produced on the day.
Rajasthan Royals (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Dwayne Smith had been far more crucial for Mumbai than Tendulkar, he didn’t disappoint and was later named man of the series.
He was a little more restrained that in previous games, and three boundaries from the first three balls of Watson’s 13th over of the innings, which finally conceded 15 gave the Indians and Smith added impetus, but in the next over he aimed an ugly heave at Pravin Tambe and was gone for 44 from 39 balls.
Tambe is not a bowler to take liberties with. Smith’s scalp took him level with Sunil Narine at the top of the CLT20 bowling charts. He secured the Golden Wicket trophy when he bowled Ambati Rayudu (29 from 24) in the 14th over as he ended his tournament with 2 for 19 from another fine and miserly 4 over spell. Amazingly that was the least economical he’d been in this competition.
Rohit Sharma took his third ball from outside off to deposit Binny into the crowd at midwicket. It was a statement of real intent that sparked the rest of his team. He passed 4,000 runs in t20s with a deft sweep four off the pace off Rahil Shukla and threaded the next ball through to the point boundary.
Pollard flexed his mighty muscle in the 16th over as he cracked Kevon Cooper over long-on. Two balls later Sharma repeated the shot with more finesse as Mumbai took 20 runs from the 16th over.
Faulkner bowled Pollard (15 off 10) and Sharma holed out at deep midwicket at the start of the 18th for 33 from 14.
For the remainder of the innings it was a game of how far could Glenn Maxwell hit it. He scored 37 from 14 balls including 4 fours and 2 sixes before being run out trying for a second in the final over.
At 202-6, Mumbai had scored 142 runs in the second half of their effort and 98 runs in the final six overs.
Harbhajan Singh, man of the match, said: “It’s a great feeling winning two cups in one year. It was a little easier to score with the new ball. The ball was getting a bit wet. That over I took three wickets was probably the best I’ve bowled the last three months.”
Mumbai had been marvellous entertainment, as were Rajasthan in their ultimately unsuccessful effort to overhaul. It was typical of a very good CLT20 competition.
Congratulations to Mumbai Indians – the best team won.
Related articles
- CLT20 Final Preview: Dravid vs Tendulkar, time to say goodbye. Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians. (cricketbadger.com)
James Buttler
As the editor of Cricket Badger he is intent on building the website to give quality coverage of the domestic game around the world.
James was the full-time Media Manager at Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 2007 and 2010.
James is a published author and a writer/video contributor to many cricket publications.
He's unsurprisingly a complete cricket badger!
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