When The Consistent Raina Broke The Jinx For Cursed CSK

Heroes In the IPL Finals- Episode 3

A beautiful summer season welcomed a highly anticipated clash of titans in the IPL 2010. As the decade was nearing to its end, India welcomed its annual cricketing brother. The IPL 2010 promised to be another cricketing clash for the ages and it delivered one of the best IPL seasons till then (maybe till date).

The beauty of the IPL season 3 was defined by its explicit nature of points table that shifted teams from top to bottom each day. After the league stage, exactly 4 teams (CSK, RCB, DD and KKR) were stuck on 14 points, competing for final two spots. Only then, two teams CSK and RCB, jumped the gun with their superior net run-rate and qualified for the knock-out stages. The season had everything; drama, excitement, nail-biting matches and finally Sachin’s beautiful 618 runs. It gave birth to a consistent Suresh Raina (520 runs) who was on the peak of his game throughout the season. Additionally, unlike other two seasons, it was a first time that an Indian captain (MS Dhoni) lifted the IPL trophy.

CSK’s Journey in a Nutshell:

Till that date, even though the CSK was the side of beat, the problem of choking in crucial stages of tournament chased them yet again. CSK gathered a champion side once again with their batting exploits mostly dependent on top order players like Matthew Hayden and Suresh Raina and our ever-dependable MS Dhoni. In this season, Murali Vijay too revived his career (458 runs) and had a great IPL. In bowling department, M Muralitharan (15 wickets) and R Ashwin (12 wickets) was a pick of bowlers. In fast bowling department, the Australian quickie Doug Bollinger not only picked up wickets (12 wickets) but also proved to be economical for them.

CSK started their campaign with a loss against a formidable DC. However, at the back of batting performances of MS Dhoni and Mathew Hayden, CSK won their next two matches comfortably. After the second game, Dhoni got injured and Suresh Raina took up the captaincy. Under his leadership, they won 1 game and lost 2 in the process (one of them a super over bout against KXIP). Once Dhoni returned from injury, things didn’t go exactly as planned as they lost their next 2 matches too. With 2 wins in 7 matches, CSK was languishing at the bottom. However, the team took the onus on themselves, collectively they won their next 3 matches and, in the process, increased their net run rate as well.  With 10 points after 10 games, they lost 2 of the 3 games and found themselves in a treacherous position of winning their final game to keep themselves in the hunt for the knockouts. That’s when Dhoni pulled off an awesome cricketing heist in the final overs, that would make even the ‘Professor’ proud. Dhoni smashed I Pathan for 17 runs in the final over and pulled off an emphatic win in a virtual quarter-final. At the back of the superior net-rate, CSK qualified for semis and played against last year’s IPL champions, DC. In the semis, CSK bowlers brought their ‘A’ game, especially, D Bollinger accrued the figures of 4/13 defending a modest total of 142 runs. CSK defeated DC comfortably with 38 runs to enter their second IPL finals.

MI’s Journey in a Nutshell:

The star-studded MI side faced an uphill task ahead of the IPL 3, as they were flagging at the bottom of the points table from last 2 years. The little master’s led side had their work cut-out and they responded magnificently in the league stages of the tournament. MI batting was totally dependent on Tendulkar, however Indian Cricket League signing Ambati Rayudu (356) along with young U19 sensation Saurabh Tiwary (419) joined forces to form a formidable batting order. In bowling, experienced pacers, Lasith Malinga and Zaheer Khan (15 wickets each) led the way with the help of Harbhajan Singh (17 wickets) who took up the responsibility of taking wickets in the middle overs. The all-round ability of Kieron Pollard (273 runs and 15 wickets) served as a perfect foil for already strong line-up.

Unlike CSK, MI won their first 2 matches at the back of their batting core mentioned above. However, they had a slight jitter against RCB and lost that game. After that, MI with well-rounded performances, won their next 5 matches and scored 14 points to stay at the top of the league stages. Even though MI lost their next 2 games, they came back strongly by winning their next 3 matches on trot due to Sachin’s great knocks who was simply unstoppable in that league. With the collective team effort, MI scored the highest number of points (20 points) in the league stages and faced RCB in the semis. In semis, K Pollard showed his all-round class (33 of 13 balls and 3/15) and foxed RCB in all departments to win by 35 runs assisting MI to enter its first ever IPL finals.

The Big Stage, The Finals:

In finals, CSK won the toss and choose to bat first in a dusty wicket of Wankhede Stadium at Mumbai. CSK were off to a decent start with 44 runs on the board. However, the double strike by D Fernando and K Pollard pulled things back for MI. With the score of 47/2, Raina was joined by S Badrinath and they took the score to 67 before Badrinath hooked Fernando straight down the throat of Malinga who took an easy catch. After that, Dhoni joined Raina and together they put on a 72-run partnership to take the score to 139. Zak dismissed Dhoni in the 17^th over and A Rayudu ran-out A Morkel in the 19^th over of the innings. Raina played a responsible innings (57 of 35) and collected a competitive total of 168/5 after 20 overs.

In the second innings, MI had a horror start as S Dhawan went for a duck in 2^nd over. Sachin and A Nayar tried to steady the ship, however the tight bowling of CSK and pitch getting slower didn’t allow them to explode. The score read 67/1 but 11 overs were already gone. As soon as, Nayar started to strike some lusty blows against S Jakati, Nayar got himself run-out with the smart work of Dhoni. This moment proved to be a game-changing one and inadvertently, MI lost the plot after that. MI lost wickets at regular intervals and didn’t build any significant partnerships. MI scored 146/9 in their allotted 20 overs and lost the game by 22 runs. Finally, CSK won their first ever IPL season after 2 losses in knockout stages.

Suresh Raina for his resounding knock of 57 of 35 balls was awarded the man of the match, whereas Sachin Tendulkar was recognized as the player of the tournament and won the orange match as well. P Ojha won the purple cap for highest number of wickets (21) in the tournament.

Share your opinions by commenting below!

Image source- Hindustan Times

According to you, who was the true hero for CSK in the IPL 2010?

1. MS Dhoni
2. Suresh Raina
3. D Bollinger
4. M Muralitharan