Reliving the magical moments of the Indian Premier League Final, over the years

8. Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings – IPL 2015

It was the Chennai Super Kings yet again in the finals and they were facing the same opposition they faced in the finals two years back. This was the sixth out of the eight times that the CSK team has entered into the finals in their journey. And unfortunately, their last one for the next three years as they were banned right after this season. This time around, it was a slightly different story as it was the Mumbai Indians who entered the finals after defeating CSK in ‘Qualifier-1’. CSK had to defeat RCB in the second qualifier to enter the finals.

For the first time in a final, CSK elected to bowl after they won the toss. The decision didn’t turn out in their favor and backfired at them. The Mumbai Indians batting first were off to a dream start as the duo of Lendl Simmons and Rohit Sharma put in a very commanding position. Together they added 119 runs in 11 overs at more than 10 runs per over. Kieron Pollard and Ambati Rayudu gave a big push to their innings as they added 71 runs together in just 40 balls after Rohit and Simmons were dismissed off consecutive deliveries.

In the big final, Chennai had to chase down 203 runs in 20 overs and they never looked comfortable. Their batsmen failed to convert the starts into big innings and wickets kept tumbling. The Chennai Super Kings fell short by a massive 41 runs thereby losing four out of the six finals that they’ve played. Mumbai Indians now leveled CSK and KKR by winning their second trophy in the IPL.

Top Performers of the season:

This was the second time that the Mumbai Indians won the trophy under Rohit Sharma. He was a vital cog for them in their lineup in that season. Rohit was the ‘Man of the Match’ in the finals. David Warner received the ‘Orange Cap’ while Dwayne Bravo was awarded the ‘Purple Cap’.

Brief Scores:
MI: 202/5 in 20 overs ( Lendl Simmons 68, Rohit Sharma 40, Dwayne Bravo 2/36)
CSK: 161/8 in 20 overs ( Dwayne Smith 57, Suresh Raina 28, Mitchell McClenaghan 3/25)