IPL 10 Final Review: A last ball finish and Mumbai Indians lift the IPL trophy for the third time

Rohit Sharma was ecstatic, there was no stopping him, the entire team ran towards the pitch while he was running on his own relieved from all the stress, the pressure and the nerves. He exulted and shouted out his joy through his throat. All the Mumbai Indians fans in the Hyderabad crowd were on their feet. The stars of the game who form their support staff were on the field and they had invaded the pitch.

It was a perfect setting for an IPL final; the top two teams in the league were playing the final. On one side there was Rohit playing his fourth final and in the other dressing room was MS Dhoni appearing in his 7th IPL final. The game was in Rising Pune Supergiant’s favour at the half way mark but the kind of bowling Mumbai have they certainly fancied their chances on a slow Hyderabad wicket.

It boiled down to the last over with 11 runs to win, Mitchell Johnson was bowling to Manoj Tiwary, he hit a boundary on the first and was caught at long-on on the next. Steve Smith batting on 51 was on the strike against the former Aussie pacer, he made room for himself and slashed the ball on the off-side it was travelling and half of the Pune supporters were already up in joy but it wasn’t to end like that.

There was Ambati Rayudu, the only fielder in the deep on the offside and it was over his shoulder, he somehow managed to hold onto the ball and the entire team raced to him. Pune now needed 7 runs from 3 balls and Johnson was on a hat-trick Washington Sundar managed to scamper for a single. Christian was on the strike and needed to get a boundary, he got two runs but more importantly was still on strike.

The last ball was hit towards deep midwicket, substitute fielder Jagadeesha Suchith covered good ground to get to the ball but fumbled and fumbled – Pune needed just three runs to level the scores Christian ran for his life but at the other end 17-year-old Sundar found his feet holding him back, he could complete just two runs and Parthiv Patel uprooted the stumps and the entire Mumbai Indians unit was on the ground celebrating their third win.

Mumbai won the toss elected to bat

Steve Smith was asked to take the field first and though he wasn’t pleased at the toss but Jaydev Unadkat and his slower balls gave them the first point on the board with Parthiv Patel playing a false shot to Shardul Thakur at mid-on; the left-arm pacer made it two with a brilliant return catch to dismiss Lendl Simmons. The RPS bowlers had kept things tight and with runs only coming in ones the rising pressure resulted in a couple of quick wickets.

Washington Sundar introduced in the power plays bowled stump to stump and there was no room for the MI batsmen to free their arms. Rohit Sharma and Ambati Rayudu got together to calm things down, there was no pace on offer neither from the bowlers nor the surface and just as Lockie Ferguson was brought in the attack Rohit fancied his chances with the ball nicely coming on to the bat.

The first ball was a half-volley and the MI skipper sent it off to the boundary, the third, fifth and the last ball were sent into the advertisement boards. In the next from the same bowler, Ambati Rayudu wanted to give back the strike to Rohit and chose the wrong fielder to challenge. Smith at mid-off got rid of the ball in no time and was bang on the target to catch Rayudu short.

Rohit was looking good but for the sixth time in the tournament was out to a leg-spinner for 24. He went for the big shot against Adam Zampa and Shardul Thakur at deep midwicket judged a very good catch to balance himself inches from the ropes. Half their team was back in the dugout but the power hitters in the lower order were still in business.

All eyes were on Kieron Pollard and the Pandya brother. After hitting a boundary Pollard had targetted the ‘V’ his hitting zone against Zampa. He hit the ball down the ground towards long-on and from the front view it looked like the ball would land on the sight screen but then there was Manoj Tiwary standing really straight for a long-on fielder to pouch the ball and stunned Pollard.

It was a setup MS Dhoni had used to get rid of the big Trinidadian in the final of the IPL 2010 while leading the Chennai Super Kings. A lot was expected from Hardik Pandya but he was out leg before on a Daniel Christian delivery, the same man dropped Karn Sharma in the next over but showed great awareness to throw the ball to Thakur who run Karn out by a mile. There was a state of panic!

7 down for 79 and things looked really gloomy for the Mumbai Indians but once again like he had done so often in the tournament Krunal Pandya stood up to the occasion and with Johnson’s support not only got them over the 100-run mark but with 24 runs in the last two overs took the total to 129/8 in 20 overs. Pandya was out on the last ball for 47 from 38 balls having struck 3 boundaries and a couple of sixes.

Pune innings

Supergiant weren’t off to the kind of start they would have liked with Rahul Tripathi falling early to Jasprit Bumrah in just the second over. The target wasn’t tall and so there was no urgency. Ajinkya Rahane took his time and so did Steve Smith. Rahane, the Mumbaikar playing for the opposition fell for 44 in 38 but the RPS fans in the crowd were happy because the next man walking in was expected to finish the game off for them.

With less than 60 runs to win and the two most reliable batsmen in the team Smith and MS Dhoni were out in the middle. The pitch was getting slower, Rohit had the slow bowlers operating and tied both the batsmen down to choke them under the pressure of the asking rate which was now mounting over 10 an over.

The equation was still manageable but Bumrah had the ball in hand for the 17th, Dhoni was on the strike on the second ball and edged it to the keeper, the bowler was excited, so was Parthiv and the entire team. They knew how big this wicket was. He concluded the over conceding just 3 runs and that scalp. Smith was still there, he kept his team in the hunt but Lasith Malinga got his pinpoint Yorkers going in the 18th over though Smith hit him for a boundary they were still chasing a high ask.

In the 19th Smith managed to hit Bumrah for a six but it all boiled down to 11 from the last over and Mitchell Johnson proved that though he is a retired international cricket but is still good enough for the biggest level finishing with figures of 4-0-26-3. Rohit Sharma lifted the IPL trophy for the third time and Mumbai Indians became the first team to win the title thrice.

Brief Score:

Mumbai Indians: 129/8 (Krunal Pandya 47; Jaydev Unadkat 2/19)

Rising Pune Supergiant: 128/6 (Steve Smith 51, Ajinkya Rahane 44; Mitchell Johnson 3/26)