Shane Watson overcame a slow start to smash a blistering hundred to steer Chennai Super Kings to their third IPL title. The Australian all-rounder scored 117* in 57 balls (eight sixes, 11 fours) to demolish Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets in the final of the IPL 2018, at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.
With the win, CSK has equalled Mumbai Indians' record for winning the most number of IPL titles.
Chasing 179 to win, CSK got off to a torrid start, with Bhuvneswar Kumar bowling a maiden first over. Their troubles doubled when the hero of the last match, Faf du Plessis (10), was foxed by Sandeep Sharma's knuckle ball and ended up giving the bowler a catch, with the score reading 16/1 after four overs.
Watson was struggling to get the SRH bowlers away, having scored only seven runs in 15 balls at one point of time. However, Suresh Raina (32) joined forces with the Aussie, and with Watson finding his touch, the two put on a massive 117-run partnership. Though Raina fell in the 14th over, the match was well out of SRH's grasp.
A couple of decisions by SRH skipper Kane Williamson—like making Sandeep Sharma and the brilliant Kumar bowl their third overs upfront, and not using Siddarth Kaul early—might be debated in the hindsight. By the time Williamson brought in his trump card Rashid Khan, Watson had found his groove. Both Raina and Watson played out Khan (0/24 in four overs) with caution and targeted other bowlers like Kaul (43 runs in three overs) and Sharma (52 runs in four overs, which included a 27-run over). Left-arm spinner Shakib al Hasan was given only one over.
But, in the end, it was all about Watson's experience and of CSK, too, who were playing their seventh IPL final.
Earlier, put into bat by CSK skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni who won the toss, SRH rode a Yusuf Pathan special (25-ball 45) to post 178/6 in 20 overs. His 34-run partnership with Carlos Brathwaite (21) propelled SRH to a challenging total, after the CSK bowlers pulled things back a bit in the last two overs. Williamson—the tournament's leading run-scorer, with 735 runs—too, chipped in with a well-made 47.
Lungi Ngidi was the pick of the CSK bowlers, with 1/26 in his four overs.
Watson, expectedly, was the Man of the Match. Rishabh Pant was chosen as the Emerging Player of the Year. Andrew Tye won the Purple Cap for most wickets—24.