It was a dream final of Champions League Twenty20 2013 or CL-Twenty20 for all the Indian cricket fans. As they witnessed two of the greatest cricket players for last time in a T20 match. As I predicted, in my Champions League Semi-final article Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals made into the finals of Champions League T20 by winning their semi-finals. IPL 2013 Champion Mumbai Indians defeated West Indies team Trinidad & Tobago while the Rajasthan Royals defeated Chennai Super Kings. "The God of cricket" Sachin Tendulkar played his last T20 match for Mumbai Indians while "The Wall" Rahul Dravid played last time for Rajasthan Royals.
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| Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid in Champions League Final |
TOSS
In jam packed stadium of Feroz Shah Kotla at Delhi, Rajasthan Royals won the toss and decided to bowl first. Rajasthan Royals forced to made one change and they picked up Kusal Parera in place of the injured Brad Hodge while Mumbai Indians picked up Glen Maxwell in place of Mitchell Johnson.
MUMBAI INDIANS BATTING
Mumbai Indians openers Dwayne Smith and Sachin Tendulkar started very cautiously and scored 27 runs in first 4 overs. Sachin Tendulkar playing in his last T20 match struck back to back fours on first two deliveries of Shane Watson in 5th over and looked in good touch. But, on the very next delivery Shane Watson uprooted his off-stump. Sachin Tendulkar out scoring 15 runs in his final T20 innings. Ambati Raydu came at number 3 to accompany Dwayne Smith who was looking in good touch.
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| Dwayne Smith Playing a shot |
Mumbai Indians completed 50 runs in 7th over and at the end of 10th over Mumbai Indians score was 60 runs losing the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar. Smith struck three consecutive fours of Shane Watson and made his intentions clear. At the team score of 79 in 12th over Smith got his stumps ungrounded on the bowling of Pravin Tambe scoring quick 44 runs. Next came Skipper Rohit Sharma and he looked like carrying his last inning against Trinidad and Tobago started his inning with a huge Six.
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| Mumbai Indians skipper during a shot |
In 14th over Mumbai completed their 100 and in the same over they lost the wicket of Ambati Raydu. Big hitter Kieron Pollard came after the departure of Raydu and added 36 runs together in just 16 balls with Rohit Sharma. Pollard scored 15 before getting bowled of the James Faulkner. Glen Maxwell came to give company to his skipper who was scoring freely. In 18th Rohit Sharma got out looking for six scoring quick 33runs of just 14 balls.
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| Glen Maxwell hitting a boundary in Champions league final |
Glen Maxwell continued the onslaught with next in Dinesh Karthick and Mumbai reached to score of 190 runs by the end of 19th over. In 20th over Glen Maxwell got out scoring 37 runs from 14 balls but Harbhajan and Karthick made it sure that Mumbai reaches the score of 200. Mumbai Indians finished their inning at 202 runs in their allotted 20 overs with the help of quick cameos from Rohit Sharma and Glen Maxwell.
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| Pravin Tambe celebrating the dismissal of a wicket |
Rajashtan Bowlers bowled beautifully in the first 10 overs but lost their way in last 10 overs. Rajasthan gave away 142 runs in the last 10 overs. Apart from the Pravin Tambe all were dispatched all round the park by Mumbai batsmen. Tambe picked up 2 wickets in his four overs giving away just 18 runs. Faulkner, Shukla and Watson picked up 1 wicket each.
Rajasthan Royals Batting
Chasing total of 203 runs in final Rajasthan royals opened their inning with Kusal Parera and Ajinkya Rahane. Parera ran himself out after hitting two boundaries of Glen Maxwell in the first overl. Next came in man in form Sanju Samson to accompany Ajinkya Rahane. Both Rahane and Samson has been in good form and they started the chase going after the weak Mumbai Indian bowling unit. At the end of 6 overs score of Rajasthan Royals was 72 losing 1 wicket.
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| Sanju Samson hitting a Six in Champions League 2013 final |
By the end of 9th over Rajasthan Royals reached the score 100 runs with the help of quick 50 from the young Sanju Samson. At this stage match looked bending towards the Rajasthan Royals as they had 9 wickets in hand and needed another 103 runs two win in 11 overs. Mumbai bowlers struggling to break the partnership finally got the breakthrough in form of Sanju Samson got out scoring 60 runs of 33 balls.
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| Ajinkya Rahane during his inning of 65 |
Fall of Samson dropped the run rate and score of Rajasthan Roylas was 136 runs losing 2 wickets at the end of 14 overs. Opener Ajinkya Rahane completed his half century but he lost the partner Shane Watson quickly. At the end of 16 over Rajastha were 155/3 chasing the target of 203runs to win their Champions League T20 title.
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| Harbhajan Singh celebrating the wicket |
Harbhajan Singh who removed Watson also removed Rahane in 17th over, Rahane scored 65 runs. In the same over Harbhajan Singh removed Binny and Cooper and the match was virtually over for Rajasthan Royals. Next came in Rahul Dravid playing his last T20 match but managed to score only 1 runs before his stumps were dislocated. Rajasthan Royals got bundled in the 19thover scoring 169 runs losing by 33 runs.
Mumbai Bowlers looked quite off color in the first half of the Rajasthan Batting. But they came back quickly and won the match and title for Mumbai Indians. Harbhajan Singh picked up 4 wickets while Pollard picked 3 wickets. Ojha and Coulter-Nile picked up one wicket each.
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| Mumbai Indians Team Champions League Twenty20 2013 Winner |
Harbhajan Singh was declared Man of the match while Dwayne Smith was declared Man of the Series. Golden Bat was given to the Rajasthan Royals opener Ajinkya Rahane for his 288 runs while Pravin Tambe was awarded with Golden Wicket for his 12 wickets in the Champions League twenty20.
Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar got very good applaud from the Team members as well as from the knowledgeable crowd. Cricket Fans are going to miss the presence of both cricket stalwarts Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid in the colored outfits.
Which team deserved to win Champions League 2013 more than the Mumbai Indians. What makes that team better than the current champion ? Send your views and feedback through the comment box !
Which team deserved to win Champions League 2013 more than the Mumbai Indians. What makes that team better than the current champion ? Send your views and feedback through the comment box !
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