Cricket Dhoni may delay retirement after Super Kings win fifth IPL title
CHENNAI Super Kings hit 10 off the last two balls to beat Gujarat Titans by five wickets and win the Indian Premier League for a fifth time.
Sai Sudharsan’s 96 had helped put the Titans in a commanding position as they finished their innings on 214-4.
A rain delay saw the Super Kings’ innings reduced to 15 overs and set a target of 171.
Ravindra Jadeja struck the decisive runs, a six and final-ball four, to settle a thrilling encounter.
“I was just trying to swing hard because every ball was important,” Jadeja said of the dramatic finale.
“I knew anything could happen,
so I was trying to swing hard and hit it straight.”
There was much talk beforehand that the match would be the last of Chennai’s 41-year-old captain M.S. Dhoni’s career.
He entered the fray late in his side’s innings, but was out for a first-ball duck, briefly resulting in stunned silence, before Chennai rallied to seal victory in dramatic fashion.
Afterwards, Dhoni hinted he could be tempted to play on for another season.
He said: “This is the best time to announce my retirement, but the amount of love I have received all over.
“The easy thing would be to walk away from here, but the harder thing would be working hard for nine months and try to play another IPL.
“It would be a gift from me, but won’t be easy on the body. You do get emotional, the first game at CSK everyone was chanting my name. My eyes were full of water, I needed to take some time off in the dugout.”
The final had originally been scheduled for Sunday, but heavy rain in Ahmedabad meant organisers moved it to its reserve day.
An impressive display by the 21-year-old Sudharsan, whose 96 runs came off 47 balls and included six sixes, put the Titans in a strong position to defend the title they won for the first time last year.
Openers Wriddhiman Saha (54) and Shubman Gill (39) also shone, while Matheesha Pathirana took 2-44 for Chennai.
The Super Kings had to wait almost three hours to get their run chase under way and, by the time they finally emerged to bat, it was well after midnight local time. But the 75,000 who had waited patiently inside the stadium were treated to a fearless display of cricket.
Devon Conway made 47 and Shivam Dubey was unbeaten on 32 as Chennai scrapped towards their target, as Mohit Sharma took 3-36.