Mumbai Indians under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, with their convincing 23-run triumph over Chennai Super Kings, won their first ever IPL final.
Mumbai Indians’ jubilant celebrations after they defeated Chennai Super Kings to win their maiden IPL title.(Courtesy by BCCI)
The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League has been suspended until further notice due to the novel coronavirus pandemic that has brought the global sporting calendar to a grinding halt.
As we wait for the crisis to ease and sporting action to resume, we look back at what happened in one of the most thrilling IPL finals that was played between the two powerhouses of the league on this very day, seven years ago.
Chennai Super Kings under the leadership of MS Dhoni were the masters of the big occasion, but in their fifth final in six editions, they were blown away by the sheer ferocity of the Mumbai attack, spearheaded by Lasith Malinga and Mitchell Johnson.
In front of a full house at the Eden Gardens on May 26 night, the two-time former champions were brought to their knees by an inspired Mumbai outfit which surged to its maiden title with a most convincing 23-run triumph in a one-sided clash.
Mumbai Indians’, who had failed to win the title in first five editions, saw their fortunes changed when Rohit Sharma took over the captaincy mid-way during IPL 2013.
Chennai began the match strongly after Rohit Sharma opted to put runs on the board in a cup final, strangling two wickets inside the first seven deliveries and bowling with the discipline and nous one has come to expect of them. It took a spectacular unbeaten 60 off just 32 deliveries from Kieron Pollard – who astonishingly only faced 13 balls in the last five overs – for Mumbai to reach some kind of respectability, for 148 for 9 was no more than that.
In reply, CSK batting line-up failed to stage a fight against Johnson’s brilliance in the powerplay as they ended up losing 4 wickets inside the first 4 overs. Johnson was the destructor-in-chief as he sent opener Murali Vijay packing on 2 before removing both Suresh Raina and Subramaniam Badrinath on ducks apiece.
Ojha then joined the party with the important wickets of CSK skipper Dhoni, opener Mike Hussey and Ravindra Jadeja as the Men in Yellow could only manage 79 runs on the board before getting all out inside 15.2 overs. Hussey finished as the top-scorer for CSK with 22 off 26 balls followed by Jadeja, who scored 20 off 16.
Chennai Super Kings became the first team to lose two successive IPL finals – to Kolkata in 2012 and to Mumbai in 2013.
