24 May,2015 11:06 PM IST | | Agencies
Mumbai Indians' love affair with Eden Gardens continued as they clinched their second IPL title following a crushing 41-run win over Chennai Super Kings in a lop-sided summit clash on Sunday night
Kolkata: Mumbai Indians annexed their 2nd IPL title thrashing Chennai Super Kings by 41 runs in the final to bring the curtains down to the eighth season of the cash-rich T20 league.
Eden Gardens proved lucky for Mumbai Indians once again. They had won their previous IPL title in 2013 at the same venue against the same opponent, CSK. Also Ricky Ponting made it a double by lifting the sliverware as the head coach of the Mumbai franchise, having already won the crown as a player with the side in 2013.
Earlier, Skipper Rohit Sharma sizzled with a 26-ball 50 while Lendl Simmons produced a fiery 68 as Mumbai Indians posted a huge 202 for five in the IPL summit clash.
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A target of 203 proved too much for the Chennai side and they collapsed to 161 for 8 to hand MI the trophy. Only opener Dwayne Smith put up any fight, making 57 off 48 balls. The fact that the asking rate for the last 10 overs for Chennai was 13.6 and that CSK had scored only 31 runs in the Powerplay, their lowest in a chase this IPL season, showed just how one-sided the game was.
The MI skipper, who has an ODI world record of 264 and also a debut Test hundred at the Eden Gardens, yet again exploded at his favourite venue.
Sharma slammed his third IPL fifty this season while Simmons was again consistent with a 45-ball 68 -- his sixth
half-century -- as the duo put on a handsome 119 from 67 balls.
After the duo's dismissal in successive balls, Ambati Rayudu (36 not out) and Kieron Pollard (36) put on 71 runs
from 40 balls for the fourth wicket to power them to a 200-plus total in pursuit of their second title.
Chasing 203 to win, Chennai Super Kings in the eighth Indian Premier League final at a packed Eden Gardens here on Sunday.
Put in to bat, the Mumbai Indians built their innings around two partnerships, as they set an asking rate of 10.15 for Chennai on a flat strip.
A rollicking 119-run second-wicket stand between opener Lendl Simmons (68; 45b, 8x4, 3x6) and skipper Rohit Sharma (50; 26b, 4x6, 6x2) took the team to a position of solidity after the loss of opener Parthiv Patel in the opening over itself.
The fourth wicket partnership between Kieron Pollard (36; 18b, 2x4, 3x6) and Ambati Rayudu (36; 24b, 3x6) added to the Chennai Super Kings bowlers' misery.
Caribbean Simmons, who has batted with his characteristic flamboyance through the tournament, opened up in the fourth over, picking up a four and six off Ravichandran Ashwin. A dozen came off the over.
Next he took on Ravindra Jadeja in the sixth over, plundering 14 runs.
Simmons reached his half century with a somewhat lucky shot, an edge, as Pawan Negi only managed to get his hands to the leather before it slipped out. The batsmen ran two, and Mumbai were 98/1 at the halfway stage.
The hundred came in 10.1 overs with Simmons disdainfully dispatching Jadeja to the boundary.
Rohit, who has always found Eden a happy hunting ground, went on the offensive from the word go, smacking Mohit Sharma for 16 runs in the second over, before unleashing some exquisite strokes during his stay in the middle.
Dwayne Bravo finally broke the partnership by foxing Rohit with a slower ball. Mumbai were 120/3 in 12 overs.
Simmons returned in the very next delivery, yorked by Dwayne Smith.
Trinidadian Pollard and Rayudu then came together and beat the bowlers to pulp on the foundation laid by Simmons and Rohit.
Pollard belted Nehra for 23 runs in the 17th over, that included three sixes and one boundary.
The match saw action in the very first over sent down by Ashish Nehra. Jolting the Mumbai Indians, diminutive open Parthiv Patel went back without bothering the scorer, victim of an outlandish fielding by Faf du Plessis.
The batsman went for a flick, but failed to execute it properly, and set off for a run as Plessis closed in on the ball at mid on. However, the South African displayed razor-sharp reflexes, as he dived, lost his balance, but still in one action managed to unsettle the bails.
For Chennai, Dwayne Bravo (2 for 36) was the most successful bowler.
Mumbai bowlers complimented the good work of the batsmen as they took the fizz out of the Chennai's chase with a very disciplined effort.
They straitjacketed the Chennai batsmen, restricting them to 161 for eight as seasoned spinner Harbhajan Singh took key wickets of Dwayne Smith (57) and Suresh Raina (28) in two overs.
Kiwi paceman Mitchell McClenaghan (3/25) took three wickets while his Lankan pace colleague Lasaith Malinga (2/25) scalped two batsmen.
Chennai have now lost four finals (2008, 2012, 2013, 2015) in six appearances.
Chasing the huge target, CSK opted to have it easy and concetrated on building a platform after losing Michael Hussey (4) early.
Smith and Raina bided their time and looked to consolidate but it meant that they managed only 31 runs from the first six overs. The required run-rate kept on going up and shot past 13 at the midway mark.
Smith completed his half-century in 45 balls but only to be trapped lbw by Harbhajan in his penultimate over. Having made a grand comeback into the Bangladesh-bound Test side, Harbhajan completed his spell in style dismissing Raina.
Looking to step out, Raina was brilliantly deceived by the veteran off-spinner who bowled a wide ball and Parthiv Patel did the rest behind the stumps.
With Hussey, Smith and Raina back in pavillion, and skipper Dhoni not looking in his usual element it looked as good as over for the yellow brigade who choked in an IPL final for a fourth time.
