Chennai Super Kings have solidified their two-year absence in the Indian Premier League in style by winning the 2018 edition of the IPL at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai by beating the Sunrisers Hyderabad after a Shane Watson onslaught. This will be a sweet victory for the franchise and all their die-hard fans who certainly missed watching their team in action for a couple of years. Throughout the tournament, Chennai have been the most consistent team and their victory was no fluke with various experienced players in their lineup standing up on the crucial occasions.
The final was no different as the bowlers bowled exceedingly well on a flat wicket to restrict the SRH batsmen under the score of 200. Then a half-fit Shane Watson completely blew the Hyderabad bowlers out of the park after a slow start. He was ably backed by Suresh Raina who too used all his experience.
Here we take a look at the key reasons why Chennai Super Kings won the IPL final:
Shane Watson’s knock for the ages
Cometh the hour, cometh the man! They say experience is worth in gold. Shane Watson proved both the age-old sayings right for the Chennai Super Kings, blasting away the world-class Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling attack out of the park. He started his innings slow, taking 10 deliveries to score his first run and by that time, everyone believed that he was under pressure to hit each and every ball out of the park. And boy did he do that! He brought up his century in only 51 deliveries.
He was only half-fit heading into the match and Chennai had to wrap up the big burly all-rounder in cotton wool, not handing him the ball in the match. But they didn’t need to. He wielded his bat like a sword and Chennai were thankful for that.
Chennai’s restrictive bowling performance
Chennai’s bowlers were also brilliant in the match restricting the Hyderabad batsmen in the early stages of the game, as well as in the death. The wicket at the Wankhede stadium was pretty flat and Hyderabad should have ideally registered over 200 runs on the board. But the consistency by the Chennai bowlers meant that Hyderabad ended up with an under-par score and for once, their bowlers could not come up with the goods while defending the score.
Chennai’s experience pays off
There was a lot of criticism which Chennai faced at the start of the tournament for being a team of oldies. Fleming had to defend the franchise’ philosophy that their purpose was not to promote talent but to win trophies. And the experience which they have in their ranks has come good in different stages of the tournament, leading to a third trophy for the franchise.
