SAIDUTT KAMAT
The 11 seasons of IPL are completed and since last 11 years we witnessed fantastic IPL matches throughout the tournament each and every year but right from the first IPL final till latest season’s final, one team rocked the most number of times and it is none other than the team in yellow Chennai Super Kings. In the very first season, MSD successfully led his side into the final against Rajasthan Royals but failed to clinch the title. However, the team in yellow managed to wear crown for back to back 2 years in 2010 and 2011 by becoming successful side in IPL history after which they managed to qualify for finals in 2012,2013 and 2015 but repeated the same story from that opening seasons final by becoming runners-up before 2 years ban in 2016 and 2017. Those 2 years were very heartbreaking for CSK fans as the team which gave them so much joy over the years was not part of IPL-9 and IPL-10 but during latest season of IPL-11 in 2018, last 2 years were nightmare for people associated with Chennai Super Kings and fans were ready to celebrate welcome comeback of their side and in fact it was fantastic one against defending champions Mumbai Indians at Wankhede stadium as Champion DJ Bravo’s match-winning knock helped CSK to beat Mumbai Indians in opening encounter of IPL-11. Performance of team in yellow was getting better day by day and even after few defeats in the middle of the tournament, they managed to qualify for playoffs by becoming 2nd top side only after Sunrisers Hyderabad in points table during the group stage. Qualifier 1 against top side Sunrisers Hyderabad was looking difficult to win for the team in yellow but their confidence and one-man show by Faf Du Plesis took them into the big final. Out of 9 seasons, this was 7th IPL final for the team in yellow as they failed to qualify for final only in 2009 and 2014. During IPL-11 final at Wankhede stadium, they got same opponents from qualifier 1 whom they had defeated thrice in the season before facing fourth time in the big final. Head to head contest was positive for CSK against the orange army but past record from finals was the only worry for MSD and boys. They were out of the tournament for 2 years and emotions were at a very high level for them along with the pressure of that big final but this time they repeated the same story from 2010 and 2011 by clinching IPL title for the 3rd time. While chasing 179 against very strong bowling side, they just lost 2 wickets to win the final match by 8 wickets in which Shane Watson scored unbeaten 117 off just 57 balls even after a slow start with the bat. Chennai Super Kings became champion after 7 years in their 7th IPL final and once again proved why they are still best with all-round performance. Captain cool Mahendra Singh Dhoni once again won the big title as captain and his lucky no.7 helped him to win his 3rd IPL title in the 7th final after 7 years.
(The writer is a Cricket commentator and analyst)
