Chennai Super Kings lift their 5th IPL trophy

The grand IPL finale clash between Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans finally reached its conclusion last night when the men in yellow showed yet again why they are the very best in this league. Gujarat Titans batted first and took off on a flying start. Their star batsman Shubhman Gill was dropped early on, which is only one of the many examples of Chennai’s poor fielding last night. But fans got to see skipper Dhoni’s vintage wicket-keeping as he knocked the bails off in the blink of an eye to dismiss Gill before he got too dangerous.   

However, that did not stop their middle order as Sai Sudharsan and Wriddhiman Saha launched a fierce attack against Chennai bowlers. Sahad hit a fantastic 54 off 39, whereas Sudharsan went ballistic and smashed 96 in just 47 balls, with 8 fours and 6 sixes. Captain Hardik Pandya also hit two important sixes in the end to put Gujarat in the commanding position of 214 runs in 20 overs. Unfortunately, rains started ruining the party yet again after just three balls being bowled in the second innings. After a long spell of showers, the match finally resumed, and Chennai Super Kings had to chase 171 runs in 15 overs as per the DLs method.  

Openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway came through once again with a roaring partnership of 74 runs in just 6.3 overs before Gaikwad was dismissed by Noor Ahmed, who also dismissed Conway at 47 just three balls later. Shivam Dube and Ajinkya Rahane stuck in the middle and pushed the scoreboard for a little while before Mohit Sharma came to Gujarat’s rescue. He ran through their middle order by getting Rahane and Rayadu out in quick succession. But the real blow came for CSK fans when Mohit dismissed skipper MS Dhoni for a golden duck, as he was caught by David Miller. However, Dube and Ravindra Jadeja stayed strong in spite of the pressure, which mounted on and made CSK need a boundary at the last ball. Finally, ‘Sir’ Jadeja hit Mohit Sharma for a boundary and made Chennai Super Kings the champions for the 5th time.  

Chennai Super Kings now equal Mumbai Indians in title wins. There have been high speculations about MS Dhoni’s retirement plans, but ‘Captain Cool’ hasn’t yet confirmed whether he will play another season of IPL or not.