The grand finale of the first Indian Premier League(IPL) between Rajasthan Royals and Chennai SuperKings turned out to be an absolute nail-biter. In a last ball humdinger finish at DY Patil Stadium, Rajasthan Royals emerged winners by overcoming tough fight by Superkings. The victory materialized on account of good team work and exceptional all round performance by Yusuf Pathan.

Batting first Chennai Superkings made a cautious start scoring at 6-7 runs per over. When it was the time to press the accelerator for Chennai, Shane Warne introduced Yusuf Pathan and he answered the captain’s call by taking 3 wickets. Later with some big shots and handy contribution from skipper Dhoni, Chennai managed to reach a competitive score of 163.

Chasing 164 to win Rajasthan didn’t got off to a good start and lost 3 wickets with less than 50 runs on board. Then, Watson and Yusuf stabilized the innings keeping the target at a striking distance. When Murali came on to bowl Yusuf tried to cut loose. He got a life initially when Suresh Raina dropped a difficult catch. Making most of his good-fortune, he struck two sixes by executing his trademark shot. Just when the victory was looking obvious for Rajasthan, Chennai striked back with 3 quick wickets, which included a brilliant direct-hit run-out of Yusuf Pathan by Suresh Raina.

Shane Warne and Sohail Tanveer kept themselves cool and dealt with the remaining runs in singles and doubles. Finally it came down to 1 run required of final ball ! Facing the decider ball, Tanveer pierced the packed infield to score the winning run. Finally, the best and consistent team won the championship.

From Chennai’s perspective, the team had put cent percent effort, ignoring a few errors in batting, bowling and fielding. They made Rajasthan to earn their victory. In the end, it was nice to see the Superkings team in a huddle and getting addressed by Dhoni. A very rare behaviour from the losing finalist.

The match was followed by presentation ceremony in which aparts from winners trophy a lot of awards were given away.
Under-19 successful player: Shreevats Goswami(Royal Challengers)
Orange Cap: Shaun Marsh
Purple Cap: Sohail Tanveer
Fair Play Award: Chennai SuperKings
Man of the Series: Shaun Watson (for all round peformance, 472 runs, 17 wickets)