Chennai Super Kings win Indian Premier League 2010

 

The Chennai Super Kings were crowned the new champions of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after beating the Mumbai Indians by 23 runs on Sunday.

MS Dhoni and his team now join the Rajasthan Royals and Deccan Chargers as teams who have won the event in it’s three-year history.

The defeat will be a huge blow for the Mumbai Indians after winning the league stage of the competition and being the best team throughout – bar the grand finale.  

Batting first, Chennai made a nervy start and looked in a bit of bother at 68/3 as Mumbai looked to restrict the batting side to a reasonable total.

But a quick-fire half century from vice-captain Suresh Raina lifted Chennai to a defendable 168/5 from their twenty overs.

Skipper MS Dhoni was also on hand to blast 22 runs from just fifteen balls to pump up Chennai’s total.

Mumbai started well with skipper Sachin Tendulkar looking in breathtaking form, but when he was caught at the boundary for 48, leaving them on 99/4, Chennai sensed victory.

With the required run-rate shooting up and overs running out, the bookmakers favourites needed to take  more risks and find the boundaries. With this in mind it was surprising big-hitting West Indian all-rounder Kieron Pollard did not arrive at the crease earlier.

Saurabh Tiwary and JP Duminy both went in quick succession, which placed MS Dhoni’s side in the driving seat and Pollard was left with too much to do.

However that did not stop Pollard, who hit 22 runs in the space of five deliveries to give Mumbai a fighting chance with two overs to spare.

But when he was dismissed at the end of the 19th over due to a brilliant low catch from Matthew Hayden at mid-on, Mumbai’s chances had all but gone.

Doug Bollinger bowled the final over, which included a run-out dismissal of tail-end batsman Zaheer Khan, to seal Chennai’s win.

Chennai are the third winners of the IPL.