India’s pride, the world’s envy
pattern. But they survived. Super Kings, under MS Dhoni, were becoming the masters of T20 format and made it to their third final in fourth year. They won their second consecutive title after beating Royal Challengers Bangalore. The player who stole the limelight though was who had gone unsold. Bangalore got him as a replacement for Dirk Nannes and he finished as Player of the Tournament.
Chris Gayle,
608) 28) posted 190 but a 136-run second-wicket stand between Manvinder Bisla (89) and Jacques Kallis (69) set up a super chase. Manoj Tiwary then hit two boundaries in the last over by Dwayne Bravo to see KKR through.
733) 25) Ankeet Chavan arrested and CSK team principal Gurunath Meiyappan --- who was then BCCI president N Srinivasan’s son-in-law --- also being investigated. Chennai, though made it to another final at Eden but were unsuccessful again as Mumbai Indians avenged their 2010 defeat. Chasing 148, Chennai fell short by 23 runs.
733) 32) It was one of the closest seasons with just three points separating the top five teams. Mumbai Indians clinched their second title by again defeating Super Kings. They had earlier beaten them in the first Qualifier. Mumbai posted 202-5, thanks to Lendl Simmons (68) and Rohit Sharma (50). Chennai were give a solid start by Dwayne Smith (57) but the rest misfired as Mumbai recorded a 41-run win. Later on, Super Kings and Royals were suspended for two years for the 2013 spot-fixing scandal. Gurunath Meiyappan and Royals co-owner Raj Kundra were suspended for life.
562) 26) Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiants were temporary teams brought in to fill the void left by Chennai and Rajasthan for two years. While Pune failed to fire, Gujarat topped the group to qualify for the play-offs but lost both the qualifiers against eventual finalists – Royal Challengers and Sunrisers. Bangalore had been the biggest underachievers in the history of IPL and it felt they would turn it around. But Hyderabad had other plans as they won a closely-fought final by eight runs. Chris Gayle (76) and Virat Kohli (54) had started off briskly as they chased 209 for victory but Bangalore’s challenged fizzled out after both departed.
973) 23)