IPL 2019: Final, MI vs CSK, Review – Mumbai hold their nerve in the haywire final to clinch 4th title

The IPL 2019 final between Mumbai Indians (MI) and the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) lived up to the expectations of the fans. It was absolute haywire right till the end with the fortunes swinging in favour of both the teams right till the end. Things boiled down right to the last ball and it was the Mumbai Indians who managed to hold their nerve in the crunch situation.

A complete team effort from ‘Men in Blue and Gold’ helped them clinch their fourth IPL title. Kieron Pollard was excellent with the bat for the team towards the end. Then, these efforts were backed up by the bowlers. Jasprit Bumrah and Rahul Chahar were excellent with the ball. Lasith Malinga defended 9 runs in the final over and conceded just 7. Thus, MI managed to win the match by a mere 1 run.

Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur put CSK on the top

Although they didn’t start off on the best of notes, the Mumbai Indians caught up with pace quickly after they elected to bat first. Quinton de Kock smashed three sixes off Deepak Chahar in the third over to take the team off to a good start. However, Shardul Thakur, who many thought wouldn’t be in the eleven, came up with the body blow. He dismissed the wicketkeeper-batsman for 29 runs which started the good phase for CSK. Chahar, who came to bowl the next over dismissed skipper Rohit Sharma for 15 and bowled a wicket maiden.

Then, it was a slow passage of play for the Mumbai but they were setting up a platform for the big hitters to take over later on. However, Imran Tahir and Thakur dismissed both Suryakumar Yadav and Krunal Pandya in consecutive overs to get the team back into the race. The leg-spinner also dismissed the dangerous Ishan Kishan next. Despite having got a reprieve in the form of a catch drop, Hardik Pandya couldn’t really make it big. He got out after scoring 16 runs off 10 balls. Deepak Chahar, who bowled the 19th over picked up two wickets and gave away just four runs.

DJ Bravo bowled a good last over until Kieron Pollard hit two fours off the last two balls to finish the innings with a score of 149/8 in 20 overs. The Caribbean cricketer remained unbeaten on 41 off 25 balls. The death bowling was exceptional as CSK gave away just 13 runs in the last two overs. Deepak Chahar, despite conceding 20 runs in just one over, gave away just four in the remaining three overs which is quite exceptional.

Shane Watson’s hard work doesn’t pay dividends

Faf du Plessis got the Super Kings off to a flyer. The start was slow where they scored just 19 runs in the first 3 overs. But the South African smashed Krunal Pandya for 14 runs in the balls in the 4th over. However, he got out in the same over after scoring 26 runs off 13 balls. It was all going good for CSK until MI built up some immense pressure with some quick wickets in the middle overs. Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu and MS Dhoni were all dismissed for single-digit scores.

The CSK skipper was run out for 2 runs as he tried to sneak in an extra run off an overthrow. However, Shane Watson kept the ‘Men in Yellow’ in the hunt right till the last over. He scored 80 runs from just 59 balls. But, he got run out in the final over when the equation was brought down to 4 runs from 2 balls. Lasith Malinga and Jasprit Bumrah were excellent at the death. The Sri Lankan bowled a dream last over and managed to hand over his team a 1-run win despite going for 42 runs in his previous three overs.

Brief Scores:

MI: 149/8 in 20 overs (Kieron Pollard 41*, Quinton de Kock 29, Deepak Chahar 3/26)

CSK: 148/7 in 20 overs (Shane Watson 80, Faf du Plessis 26, Jasprit Bumrah 2/14)

Result: Mumbai Indians won the match by 1 run.

Man of the Match: Jasprit Bumrah

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