Defiantly, he stood there to the last. Instinct would not let him surrender even though the battle was lost. For once he was utterly powerless to stop the inevitability of a crushing defeat that few predicted.
All the experience in the world could not save M.S. Dhoni and his hitherto dominant Chennai Super Kings. They were anything but super in the final of the Indian Premier League, suffering a slow, lingering death at the hands of the Mumbai Indians. The championship showpiece, which many believed would be another cliffhanger, ultimately proved horribly anticlimactic.
The damage had long since been done. After being outplayed in the midweek playoff qualifier, Mumbai roared back to tame the Lions for the third time in four attempts this year. The Indians had glimpsed the summit before. Finally, they are standing on top of the mountain.
They took the tough route to the top. Mumbai were soon in trouble and the decision to bat first appeared to be a ghastly misjudgment. The arrival of Kieron Pollard changed all that. The West Indian all-rounder stroked a boundary off his first delivery and didn’t look back. Pollard’s rapid, unbeaten 60 at least gave the Indians’ bowling attack something to defend.
Lasith Malinga got the message. The Sri Lankan’s devastating first over rocked CSK to its core. Mike Hussey, the leading scorer in IPL, lasted just two balls and his replacement, Suresh Raina, among the League’s most consistent run-makers, went for a golden duck. Malinga narrowly missed a hat-trick but the writing was on the wall in capital letters.
Chennai would never recover. By the time Dhoni arrived to survey the wreckage, the fat lady was warming up in the wings. Dhoni could, and probably should, have promoted himself up the batting order so his own half-century could have saved the day. In the context of the game it was meaningless as the required run-rate skyrocketed out of control.
In just a few short weeks, Mumbai has gone from chumps to champs. The all-star experiment turned into an embarrassing flop. Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar, brought together at the start of the season to make the telling difference for Mumbai, played no part.
They were the most famous, and probably the best paid cheerleaders at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens. Tendulkar’s injured hand kept him on the sidelines, while Ponting relinquished the captaincy weeks ago after an inexplicable loss of form. His successor, Rohit Sharma, did a remarkable job of pulling the team together and getting it over the finishing line for its first IPL title.
Tendulkar immediately announced his retirement from IPL cricket. Having finally got his hands on the trophy, the Little Master is ready to call it a day. He doesn’t need anyone to tell him his legendary talent is on the wane. 2013 represented his poorest return in terms of runs scored from a full season – a far cry from the heights of 2010 and 2011.
Ironically, Chennai picked up the awards for leading scorer and wicket taker. Hussey compiled more than 700 runs while Dwayne Bravo claimed 32 wickets – including four in the Championship game. Both would return the respective Orange and Purple caps in exchange for a kiss on the IPL trophy.
Shane Watson was also recognized. The Australian all-rounder was deservedly named Player of the Series even though his Rajasthan team fell one game short. “Watto” was one of only seven players to top 500 runs and also took 13 wickets – his best return since the title-winning season of 2008.
So IPL 6 is in the books. A season, which featured a world record batting performance from Chris Gayle, ended with a new name on the trophy. Mumbai has got the monkey off its back. It will be replaced with a target in twelve months time.