Exclusive successful defense title for Chennai (Vijay 95, Hussey 63)

What would have been on Chennai Super Kings' wish list before this final? 1) Win toss on a slow pitch. 2) Great start by the openers. 3) Remove Chris Gayle for a duck. PS: While we are it why not knock out AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli cheaply? They got all that. Chennai produced a near-perfect game and mauled Royal Challengers Bangalore to lift their second IPL trophy.

M Vijay has rarely converted his starts this IPL and Michael Hussey hasn't sparkled in the previous few games. So what they do on the day of the big finale? They amass a sizzling 159-run partnership to launch Chennai to a massive total at the Chidambaram Stadium. R Ashwin then derailed the chase by packing off Gayle for a duck in the first over. Game over.

Chris Gayle carries Bangalore to final

Royal Challengers Bangalore 185 for 4 (Gayle 89, Agarwal 41, Munaf 2-27) beat Mumbai Indians 143 for 8 (Tendulkar 40, Vettori 3-19, Aravind 2-27) by 42 runs

In Jamaica the term criss is used to suggest everything is all right. Royal Challengers Bangalore may as well rename him Criss Gayle. For with Gayle, they criss. Gayle fell 11 short of his third century this IPL, but for 15 overs he played so much above the game that the 37 that came in the five after his exit didn't look far off par on this surface. Mumbai struggled to replicate Gayle's impact except with the new ball when they got off to a flying start. Gayle came on then to stifle the openers with a two-run over. The pressure resulted in wickets, everything was criss again, and Bangalore were in the final of the IPL.


When batting, Gayle was assisted by Mayank Agarwal, his 20-year-old opening partner yet to make first-class debut, who scored 41 off 31 in a 113-run opening stand. Gayle will be the first one to concede, though, that he couldn't have found a more accommodating opposition. To begin with, Mumbai Indians opted to bowl on a track where sides batting first have won six out of seven games this season. Then they refused to take the bull by its horn, throwing the new ball to Abu Nechim as opposed to Lasith Malinga. It can be argued that they succeeded in the previous game with Dhawal Kulkarni bowling the first over, but surely against a side as heavily reliant on Gayle as Bangalore they would have unleashed their best bowler right away.