On this day in 2015: Mumbai Indians beat Chennai Super Kings in IPL final

Mumbai Indians (MI), led by Rohit Sharma, are the most successful team in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL), having won the title five times. In 2013, Rohit Sharma took over as their skipper from Australia’s Ricky Ponting and ever since then, the team’s fortunes have turned around. In 2015, on this very day, they beat the MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in an IPL final.

At the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, MI put forth a clinical show, winning the match by 41 runs. After being put in to bat first, very few things went wrong for the Mumbai-based team as they managed 202 runs for the loss of five wickets in their 20 overs. MI lost Parthiv Patel in the very first over, but opener Lendl Simmons and skipper Rohit steadied the ship with a partnership of 120 runs.

Though both of them perished in the space of two balls, they had set the platform for the rest of the 47 balls. Even as Simmons got 68, Rohit managed 50. A couple of 36 from Kieron Pollard and Ambati Rayudu meant that MI got past the 200-run mark without a fuss. For the Super Kings, Dwayne Bravo was the standout performer as he picked up the crucial wickets of Rohit and Hardik Pandya.

Winning 9 out of the last 10 is one of the great turnarounds in the IPL's short history. #MumbaiIndians can be very proud. #PepsiIPL

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) May 24, 2015

Rohit Sharma’s MI cruise home without dropping much sweat

In the run-chase, CSK lost wickets at pretty regular intervals. Barring West Indies’ Dwayne Smith, none of the batters could show resilience. When Smith got out in the 12th over, the Super Kings still needed 115 runs at a daunting required rate of 14.08. Smith went on to score 57 runs off 48 balls with nine fours and one six before off-spinner Harbhajan Singh trapped him plumb in front.

Mohit Sharma threw his bat around to score 21 runs off seven balls, but his efforts were never going to be enough for CSK to get over the line. For MI, Mitchell McClenaghan was the standout performer as he got the wickets of Michael Hussey, Bravo and Ravi Ashwin. Harbhajan and Lasith Malinga picked up two wickets each. Vinay Kumar got the crucial wicket of South Africa’s Faf du Plessis.