On Sunday, Mumbai Indians were crowned as IPL champions as they surprisingly won the finals at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. They defeated RPS by a narrow margin of 1 run. It was a phenomenal team effort by Mumbai Indians who stuck to their task in the field and raised the intensity during RPS’s chase.
The 10th season of the IPL was again very successful and widely followed by a lot of audiences not just in India but overseas as well. There were some mind-boggling matches this year and in the end, it was Mumbai under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, who held their nerve in the finals to register a come-from-behind win.
A one and a half months long tournament calls to revisit the 5 best moments of the IPL this year which are listed as follows:
1. MS Dhoni show in Qualifier 1
Former RPS skipper MS Dhoni was under tremendous pressure this year purely due to the fact that he was sacked from the captaincy at the start of the season. When that happens, a player of Dhoni’s stature always under pressure to come good as a playing member of the XI. Dhoni had a mixed season as he had just one good knock – 61* against SRH at home. Apart from that innings, where he guided his team home in an anxious chase, there weren’t any particular contributions from the former India skipper.
Dhoni decided to make a valuable contribution in the 1st Qualifier when he smashed the Mumbai Indians bowlers all around the park to remain unbeaten on 40. The intensity of his knock goes a long way. RPS were striving when he came out to bat but Dhoni ensured that the team total crossed 160, which was finally too much for MI to chase. Dhoni faced just 26 balls and hit five sixes, four of which came in the last 8 balls he faced. It was vintage Dhoni show, as he collected 41 runs in the last two overs to get momentum behind RPS.