The first edition of the Indian Premier League took place in the year 2008 where the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals battled out against each other in DY Patil Stadium, Mumbai. Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Warne won the toss and elected to bowl first.
Putting CSK into bat didn’t really cause troubles for the Chennai franchise and Parthiv Patel and the number three batsman Suresh Raina took on the Rajasthan bowling attack with ease. Parthiv scored 38 runs while Raina was clinical with his 30-ball-43. Later, skipper MS Dhoni’s unbeaten 29 runs at the end of the innings guided Super Kings to a total of 163 for the loss of 5 wickets in the allotted 20 overs.
For Rajasthan, it was Yusuf Pathan who showed character with the ball and bagged 3 wickets in 4 overs.
Chasing a formidable total, Rajasthan Royals lost early wickets but Asnodkar and Watson’s 28 apiece held on the innings for the Royals but it was once again Yusuf Pathan who smashed a riveting half-century to anchor his team to a win in the finals.
Ntini and Morkel though were the most effective quick bowlers for Chennai Super Kings but their bowling effort wasn’t enough to restrict Rajasthan from chasing down the total. Interestingly, Rajasthan Royals were outplayed by Royal Challengers Bangalore in their first ever IPL clash when the Shane Warne-led team was bundled out for a total of 58 runs while chasing 134 runs.
