After Pollard takes the side to 149, the bowlers peg back Chennai Super Kings despite Watson’s valiant effort; Malinga delivers the knockout punch Big men show up in a Cup final. Amidst the pressures and the demands of the summit clash, they display character. Some thundering drives from the hefty Kieron Pollard (41 off 25 balls) piloted Mumbai Indians to 149 for eight here on Sunday night. Lasith Malinga, who had gone for 42 runs in his first three overs, was entrusted with the task of bowling the final over with Chennai Super Kings needing nine runs. The Sri Lankan made his experience count with an accurate over. With two off the last delivery, he trapped Shardul Thakur in front to trigger celebrations in the Mumbai dugout. It was a heartbreaking loss for Super Kings, especially Shane Watson, who had resurrected the innings with a brilliant counterattacking 80 off just 59 balls (eight fours, four sixes). The Australian was run out off the fourth ball of the final over, tilting the scales in Mumbai’s favour. Earlier, Pollard finished the innings with two blistering cover drives off fellow Trinidadian Dwayne Bravo and Mumbai had some runs to play with. Pollard, though, was an angry West Indian in the last over after the umpire did not signal a wide off a Bravo delivery outside off. He took strike about six yards away from his off-stump for the next delivery, Bravo stopped in his tracks and the umpires had a word with Pollard before sanity returned. Incision and control The cauldron that the IPL final is, can do strange things to you. Then Mumbai fought hard on the field. The bowling had incision and control. Mumbai Indians celebrate their victory after defeating Chennai Super Kings in the IPL final on Sunday | Photo Credit: K.R. Deepak Faf du Plessis, stroking the ball crisply on either side, was foxed by a widish delivery from Krunal Pandya; he gave the left-arm spinner the charge and was stumped. Suresh Raina fell to a Rahul Chahar delivery that hurried off the pitch and went straight through. And Ambati Rayudu was bounced out by Jasprit Bumrah. Then the key man, M.S. Dhoni, was run-out by the narrowest of margins by a direct throw from Ishan Kishan from deep cover. CSK had a fight on its hands. Things started differently for Mumbai Indians after it decided to set a target. de Kock on fire Quinton de Kock, with nifty footwork, innovated and created at the start. Deepak Chahar was creamed for three sixes in the third over; whipped from outside off, lofted, inside-out, over extra-cover and timed a length delivery, angled across, over long-off. At the other end, the smooth-stroking Rohit Sharma pulled a short ball from Deepak Thakur over the ropes and then swept Harbhajan Singh. MI had sped to 44 for no loss in 4.4 overs when Thakur surprised and scalped de Kock with a quick, skiddy short-pitched delivery. de Kock was late on to the pull. Then, Chahar, taken off by Dhoni after the pounding in the third over, was brought back by the skipper in the sixth over. This was an inspired move. Chahar has bowled capably against the right-handed Rohit in the competition and got the Mumbai skipper with a knuckle ball just outside off. Deceived by the change of pace, Rohit nicked and Dhoni completed a smart catch. At the end of the PowerPlay, Mumbai was 45 for two and CSK had clawed its way back. Imran Tahir has been influential for CSK with his changes of length, flight, dip and turn and he got the important wicket of the in-form Suryakumar Yadav with a quicker, fuller delivery that was not quite there for the chop. This was Tahir’s 25th scalp in this IPL, equalling Rabada’s tally of 25. Then Tahir, bowling with heart and craft, defeated the left-handed Ishan Kishan’s attempt to slog him with a delivery that held its line. He now was the highest wicket-taker this season. Tantalising duel Tahir bowled beautifully, giving the ball air and daring the big-built Pollard to use his shoulders. It was a tantalising duel. It was only when Tahir pitched short that Pollard deposited the ball in the crowd. This was a day when Thakur bowled with some hostility and fire. Krunal Pandya miscued a pull off a skiddy short pitched delivery and Thakur covered around 25 yards to hang on to the catch. He would have snapped up Hardik Pandya too, on four, but Raina, after circling around the catch, spilled the offering. Then, Hardik unleashed the helicopter shot. These additional runs hurt Chennai.<doc-sep>It came down to the final ball, Lasith Malinga held his nerve, he had nine runs to defend, he conceded seven and Mumbai Indians scraped home by 1 run and this one run was enough to hand them their fourth IPL title. Rohit Sharma became the most successful captain in the history of the league and for MS Dhoni, it was a matter of being very close, but not over the line. The skipper said after the match that it was game where the bowlers stood up and delivered and that although it was not the perfect season for his side, on the day when it mattered the most, the team which made the least mistakes won. ALSO READ: Out or Not out - MS Dhoni run out drama costs CSK title - Watch “As a team we had a good season. But we need to go back and reflect on how we reached the finals. It’s not one of those years where we played really great cricket to reach here. The middle order wasn’t great, and today it was very funny as to how both teams were only passing on the trophy from one team to the other. Both teams made a lot of mistakes, the team that made one lesser mistake won. I think the bowlers did really well for us, even today it was definitely more than a 150 wicket,” Dhoni said. He also said that the focus will now shift to the World Cup and only after that, can they sit and decide to plug the gaps which were very evident this season. And as a parting word, the CSK skipper also said that hopefully, he will be back next season as well. ALSO READ: Twitter erupts after MI clinch thriller to win fourth title “We have to go to our drawing board, and there is no real time for that now. We need to go into the World Cup and after that we need to see the gaps that we can fill. Nothing against the bowlers, it’s the batsmen who need to step up. [Will he be there in the next season?] Hopefully ye,” he further added. Chasing a target of 150, CSK were cruising along courtesy a brilliant innings by Shane Watson, but then Jasprit Bumrah and Lasith Malinga combined brilliantly in the final two overs as Mumbai clinched their fourth IPL title. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allow="encrypted-media" style="position: absolute; top: 0px; right: 0px; bottom: 0px; left: 0px; width: 100%; height: 100%;"><doc-sep>Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings clashed in Hyderabad in the final of this IPL season. A senior official of the Telangana Excise and Prohibition Department landed in trouble for seeking 300 complimentary tickets for the Indian Premier League (IPL) final with higher-ups taking a "serious view" and issuing a memo. The two most successful teams of the IPL-Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings - clashed in the final in Hyderabad on Sunday night. K Pradeep Rao, District Prohibition and Excise Officer of Medchal-Malkajgiri District, wrote a letter to the chief executive officer of the Hyderabad Cricket Association seeking 50 complimentary corporate box and 250 other privilege passes to be given to "higher authorities". "Kind attention is invited to the subject cited and requesting to provide (300) IPL cricket match tickets for the upcoming final match to be held on 12-05-2019 so as to provide the same to the higher authorities of the department," Pradeep Rao wrote in an official letter with stamp and seal on May 9. Justifying the letter, the official said many people sought tickets during cricket matches and the Board of Control for Cricket in India normally asked them to send the request. When contacted, Special Chief Secretary (Commercial Taxes and Excise) Somesh Kumar said the government took a serious view of the letter written by his department official. "This official wrote a letter (for tickets). We have taken basically a serious view. As a first step we are issuing a charge memo (to him) and further action will follow," Mr Kumar told news agency Press Trust of India. Recently, the central deputation tenure of senior bureaucrat Gopal Krishan Gupta, who had sought complimentary passes for IPL matches from Delhi cricket association, had been curtailed and he was sent back to his cadre railway ministry. Mr Gupta, a 1987 batch officer of the Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers (IRSME), had in March sought complimentary passes for an IPL match from the Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) president Rajat Sharma's office, an official communique had said.<doc-sep>
Rohit Sharma won his fifth IPL title and has never lost a final (IANS Photo) Rohit Sharma became the most successful captain in the history of Indian Premier League (IPL) after leading Mumbai Indians to their record 4th title on Sunday. Mumbai Indians defeated Chennai Super Kings by 1 run in a nerve-wracking last-ball thriller at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. Rohit Sharma failed with the bat but Mumbai Indians managed to post 149 for 5, thanks to Kieron Pollard's 25-ball 41 on his 32nd birthday. Shane Watson hammered 80 from just 59 balls but his efforts ended in vain as Chennai Super Kings failed to get 9 in the last over bowled by Lasith Malinga. The Sri Lanka veteran had conceded 42 runs in his 1st 3 overs but gave away only 7 runs in the thrilling last over. With Mumbai Indians win on Sunday, Rohit Sharma became the only player to win 5 IPL titles. Harbhajan Singh and Ambati Rayudu are 2nd on the list with 4th titles each. Rohit Sharma is arguably the Super King of T20 tournaments as he was won 9 out of 10 finals in his career. Rohit has won the World T20 in 2007 with India, the Champions League 2013 with Mumbai Indians, the Asia Cup in 2006 with India and the Nidahas Trophy in 2018. When it comes to IPL, Rohit won his first title with Deccan Chargers in 2009. In 2013, Rohit won his first title as captain when he led Mumbai Indians to their first title. Rohit repeated the feat in 2015, 2017 and 2019 and maintained a perfect record in the IPL final. Rohit Sharma was brilliant with his bowling changes and fielding moves as Mumbai Indians held their nerves in the IPL 2019 final despite being extremely sloppy on the field. Ambati Rayudu had a phenomenal season with the bat in IPL 2018 as he lit up Chennai Super Kings' return to the IPL. Rayudu smashed 602 runs, including a hundred and 3 fifties, in 16 matches in the last season. However, Rayudu struggled with the bat, managing just 282 runs at a paltry average of 23.50. Rayudu has 3 IPL titles with Mumbai Indians and 1 with Chennai Super Kings. On the other hand, Harbhajan Singh who had spent 10 successful years with Mumbai Indians before moving to Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2019 has four titles -- 3 with MI and 1 with CSK.