The Indian finale at the clash of the titans in the final of the Nokia Champions league T20 tournament the sport dominated the oval at Chennai on Sunday and the spectators were awe struck.
The finale had its melodrama to the core with the results on a roller coaster ride from the beginning swinging to either sides and keeping us guessing all the time. The match opened with a strong opinion of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) taking the victory with ease. A major SMS poll organized by a broadcasting company said 45% voted in favour of the Mumbai Indians (MI) and 55% favoured the RCB and till the end during the tenth over of the second innings the scale tilted towards 75% favouring the RCB victory. But meticulous planning with timely execution coupled with intimate teamwork the MI won over their opponents proving their critics wrong.
Winning the toss and electing to bat the MI skipper Harbhajan, was a little disastrous in the beginning. The batting team wound up with a meek total of 139 runs all out after twenty overs. Rayudu was 21, Franklin was 41 and Malinga was 16 and the bowling of the RCB was very good with Vettori taking 2 wickets and Bhatkal claiming 3 wickets. In reply the RCB lost its first wicket in the form of Dilshaan who scored 27, the only batsman who survived the odds. The others just did a fashion walk on and off the field in quick successions, while winding up for 108 in 19.2 overs. Of all the issues Bhajju regained his old form with the ball swinging to his tunes and claiming 3 wickets and Malinga the master craftsman claiming 2 price wickets. The man of the match went to the MI captain Harbhajan.
The otherwise lack luster MI outshone today’s game, though the batsmen played low it was the bowlers who dominated the show and grabbed the honours along with the victory cup. So at last MI finally have a trophy to display on their shelf, and that too what an achievement, thanks to the Coach Shaun Pollock’s optimistic encouragement in the dressing room after the first innings. Neetu Ambani, the franchise owner and the master blaster Sachin Tendulkar an active participant of the MI core committee, were on a swan song after tense moments, in the end.
The series toppers in individual performance went to Lasith Malinga as the man of the series and the best bowler of the tournament with ten wickets on hand and the best batsman to David Warner of Somerset for scoring 328 runs with two consecutive hundreds.
Today’s show had the most expensive people on chart with the Kingfishers Vijay Mallya, Nokia brand ambassadors Sharukh Khan and Priyankaa Chopra to name a few.
