Chennai Super Kings produced yet another superlative bowling effort to restrict Mumbai Indians to 149/8 in the final of the IPL 2019, at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad.
Deepak Chahar was the pick of the bowlers, taking three wickets for 26 runs in his four overs. Imran Tahir and Shardul Thakur chipped in with two wickets each.
Kieron Pollard (41* off 25 balls) was the top-scorer for the Mumbai Indians, as none of their other batsmen managed to build on their starts.
Electing to bat after winning the toss, Mumbai Indians got off to a good start, with opener Quinton de Kock (29 off 17 balls) putting on 45 runs with skipper Rohit Sharma (15) in quick time. The former hit Deepak Chahar for three sixes in the third over of the match to set the ball rolling.
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But, Chahar's new ball partner Shardul Thakur bounced out de Kock in the next over, with the South African southpaw top-edging a pull to Dhoni. Sharma fell in the next over, edging a knuckle ball off Chahar to Dhoni.
The twin strikes put the brakes on the scoring, with only 13 runs coming in between overs 6 and 9. Ishan Kishan (20) and Suryakumar Yadav (15) tried to stem the rot with a 37-run partnership, but the CSK bowlers struck yet again before the two can settle down.
Yadav inside-edged an attempted dab down to third man on to his stumps off Imran Tahir, while Krunal Pandya (7) top-edged a pull off Thakur who took a good tumbling catch off his own bowling. Ishan Kishan, too, followed suit soon after, becoming Tahir's 26th victim, leaving Mumbai Indians at 101/5.
With CSK taking wickets at regular intervals, it was left to Hardik Pandya and Pollard yet again to help MI to a respectable total. Though they put on 39 runs, the duo just couldn't get the big shots away at will.
Pandya got a reprieve when Suresh Raina dropped a dolly when he was on four runs. But the hard-hitting all-rounder couldn't make the most of it, as he was trapped in front for 16 by a perfect yorker by Chahar in the 19th over. He added another to his kitty as his cousin Rahul Chahar was out a ball later, slicing a shot to mid-off.
The last over by Dwayne Bravo was full off drama, as umpire Nitin Menon denied two controversial wide calls. Though Pollard lost his composure for a moment, he recovered quickly to drill two fours off the last two balls.
