Mumbai: Chennai Super Kings won their third IPL title after outplaying Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets in the final at Wankhede stadium here on Sunday. Shane Watson did the star turn by slamming his second ton of the tournament to make a chase off 179 easier after a slow start.
Skipper M.S. Dhoni, who had lost three finals as captain of CSK, got his hand on the trophy again after 2011. Chennai who made a return to the IPL fold after two years have scaled the peak again. They were 3-0 at Wankhede and 4-0 against SRH this season.
Earlier, Yusuf Pathan blazed away an unbeaten 25-ball 45 to power Sunrisers to 178/6. The platform was set by the 51-run second wicket stand between skipper Kane Williamson and opener Shikhar Dhawan. Orange cap holder Williamson scored 36-ball 47 and finished the tournament with 735 runs at an average of over 50.
Considering the final match pressure the chase was stiff and it got harder after openers, especially Watson, struggled against the movement generated by SRH swing bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Sandeep Sharma. When Faf du Plessis got out in the last ball of the fourth over, CSK had just 16 on the board.
Watson who took 11 balls to open his account, found touch in the last over of powerplay with a six and boundary. The seventh over bowled by Siddharth Kaul cost 16 runs as CSK got into chasing mode but in came Rashid Khan to check them again. Kaul conceded 16 again in his second over as Watson moved a gear up.
The Australian was in total control, clearing the field easily. He later made the chase easy by getting 27 runs in 13th over bowled by Sandeep. His 117-run partnership with Suresh Raina (32) in 57 balls and smartly playing out dangerous Rashid (1/24) brought CSK closer to the target.
The former Australian all-rounder went on to make a 51-ball hundred and finished the game unbeaten on 117 (57 balls) with 11 boundaries and eight sixes.
After being put into bat first by Dhoni after some confusion at the toss, Sunrisers openers made a sedate start.
Lungi Ngidi (1/26) bowled a maiden fourth over to Williamson but the Hyderabad skipper got things going with a pulled six and boundary later off Deepak Chahar in the fifth over. Dhawan also hit Shardul Thakur for a six as Sunrisers were at 42/1 after six overs.
Ravindra Jadeja ended the flourishing partnerhsip by castling Dhawan (26) when he attempted a wild slog to a flat delivery. Williamson continued to find runs and SRH were surging ahead as Shakib al Hasan also found his range. But leg-spinner Karn Sharma who had replaced Harbhajan Singh in the side struck in the first ball of his second over to have Williamson stumped after he failed to pick a full and wide delivery.
Scorecard
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Sreevats Goswami (run out Sharma/Dhoni) 5, Shikhar Dhawan b Jadeja 26, Kane Williamson st Dhoni b Sharma 47, Shakib Al Hasan c Raina b Bravo 23, Yusuf Pathan (not out) 45, Deepak Hooda (c sub D. Shorey) b Ngidi 3, Carlos Brathwaite c Rayudu b Thakur 21. Extras: (lb1, nb1, w6) 8. Total: (for 6 wkts, in 20 overs) 178.
FoW: 1-13, 2-64, 3-101, 4-133, 5-144, 6-178.
Bowling: Chahar 4-0-25-0 (1nb, 1w), Ngidi 4-1-26-1, Thakur 3-0-31-1 (2w), Sharma 3-0-25-1 (1w), Bravo 4-0-46-1 (2w), Jadeja 2-0-24-1.
Chennai Super Kings: S. Watson (not out) 117, F du Plessis c & b Sandeep Sharma 10, S. Raina c Goswami b Brathwaite 32, A. Rayudu (not out) 17. Extras: (lb2, w3) 5. Total (for 2 wkts, in 18.3 overs) 181.
FoW: 1-16, 2-133.
Bowling: Bhuvneshwar 4-1-17-0, Sandeep 4-0-52-1 (2w), Kaul 3-0-43-0, Rashid 4-0-25-0, Shakib 1-0-15-0, Brathwaite 2.3-0-27-1 (1w).
