Rajasthan won the toss and elected to field first Chennai side is unchanged from the semis and Rajasthan made to changes Niraj and Akmal are included in the final 11.
The umpires are doing their best so far to tilt the match in favour of Chennai, Patel was out plumb lbw on the first ball of Tanvir and then Yousuf Pathan got him plumb in front of wickets both were quite simple decisions but the umpires gave the decidion in favour of Chennai.
Shane Warne also strangely took Tanvir out of the attack after his first over, he was clearly troubling the batsmen and almost got Patel’s wicket he should have continued with Tanvir for at least two overs. Its poor captaincy from Warne so far in the finals.
Its 115/3 in 14.4 overs, Warne so far in last three overs have bowled one overpitched delivery and each time he got struck for a six, Surprising an experienced bowler like him bowling one over pitched in every over, also 15 overs are gone and he kept his strike bowler Tanvir back and allowed the opposition to survive 15 overs and score easily. Poor decision making.
Chennai are well on their way to score 175+ which will be hard to chase. Advantage Chennai.
Its 130/4 in 17 overs, the last over by Watson only costed 3 runs and he removed the dangerous Raina.
It all depend on Tanvir now if he can bowl two good overs he will give his team a good chance. So far 5 runs came off 5 balls. Dhoni is on strike will he hit a boundary, Yes it is. 4 runs. 9 came off the last over, its 139/4.
7 runs came off the first five balls Dhoni is on strike can he hit a boundary again no he will get two, 9 came from the over, its 148-4.
Tanvir coming in to bowl his last over, can Chennai get 20 off the last over, First ball, it was a slower one and Kapugedara holed it out, he is gone, Dhoni is on strike, two runs came off the second ball. The third ball has gone all the way for a six on mid off. Tanvir failed to bowl in the block hole on that occasion, single came off the fourth ball, its 163/5.
Thats a good total, it will not be easy to chase this total the out field is slow and the wicket is not that good to play the strokes, for Chennai a lot will depend on how Ntini and Goni bowl, both are in good form and in the Semis they showed a lot of energy, for Rajasthan its yet to be seen who will open in place of Smith, Akmal he usually fails as an opener, I think it will be Asnodkar and Niraj and Akmal will come at #3.
Asnodkar, Pathan and Watson will have to score runs again.
Warne was very defensive today for reasons better known to him. Yousuf Pathan was the best bowler for Rajasthan, again Warne couldn’t get any turn from the wicket, and Yousuf was turning, lets see how Murali bowls.
Its Asnodkar and Niraj at the crease, these two have to score at least 45 off the first six to give their team a chance, if they deprive Ntini of any wicket pressure will be on Chennai.
Niraj Patel is clearly uncomfortable against Ntini’s pace and bounce also he has no clue of the angle he is bowling with, he got struck on his body atleast three times so far, he should only rotate the strike and should not waste any balls as it will put pressure on the in form Asnodkar.
Its 42 /2 in 6.3 overs, both the openers are back in the pavilion, Watson and Akmal are on the crease, well Akmal is gone again Run out, trying to take a silly run and throwing away his wicket, its 42/3 and I think Chennai will be crowned as the real Super Kings of this tournament, run rate has climbed upto 9.2.
@ 19 runs are required off 13 balls, the momentum changed in favour of Rajasthan when Pathan was dropped at 13 and then at 33, but in comes Warne and he gets Pathan run out, now 12 balls are remaining and 18 runs are required, Warne is on strike and on non strikers end it is Tanvir.
Ntini is coming in to bowl his final over. 16 are required of 10 balls. One big hit and the match will swing in the favour of Rajasthan and one more wicket and it will swing in the favour of Chennai. 13 required of 8 balls. Last ball coming up will it be a boundary. Yes it is its a four, Warne makes room and drives it towards the cover, what a shot! now 8 required off the last over , who will bowl the last over? Balaji has 1 remaining, Can Tanvir do it? Or will Balaji prevailover him?
Tanvir takes a single and now its Warne on strike, Dot ball, 7 required off 4 balls. Single taken, three balls remaining and 6 required, can Tanvir hit a six will Balaji give him a full toss. now its 3 to win off two balls, the match is tied, now can Tanvir take one off the last ball. It can’t get better than this, tensions are running high, can Balaji bowl a dot ball, he has done it, Tanvir finds the gap and Royals have won the trophy by 3 wickets.
They have proven they are the champions, several dropped catches and poor fielding made Chennai lose this one, also Dhoni made a critical mistake of keeping Balaji’s over till end, he was his most expensive and un impressive bowler, Rajasthan deserved the title in many ways they were truly the best team.
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