In the final of the Champions League Twenty20 tournament contested by the ten best Twenty20 teams in the world, Mumbai emerged supreme beating Royal Challengers Bangalore by 31 runs.
It was an exciting battle for supremacy. Nobody thought that after Mumbai Indians were bowled out for just 139 runs, they could restrict the strong Bangalore batting line up for 108 runs in 19.2 overs.
Skipper Harbhajan Singh led from the front through a brilliant display of off spin bowling picking 3 for 20 backed by leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (2 for 9) to mount pressure on the Bangalore batsmen and wreck their batting line up.
Chasing a small total, Bangalore needed a good start. Tillakaratne Dilshan smashed the first ball of the innings from Lasith Malinga through the covers four a boundary.
He also hit Ahmed for two consecutive boundaries but Malinga dismissed him with the first ball of the fifth over. Dilshan trying to hit Malinga across the line found his stump uprooted for 27 runs which had five hits to the boundary.
In the very next over, Harbhajan Singh took the prize wicket of Chris Gayle trapping him leg before for five runs.
The mantle of steadying the innings once again fell on Virat Kohli. Mayank Agarwal and Kohli took their time to settle down. Singh could have got the wicket of Agarwal on five but Satish could not hold on to the catch at long on. At the half way mark, Bangalore needed another 75 runs to reach the target.
Leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal struck in the 11th over to have Agarwal caught by Pollard at long off for 14 to end the 25 runs partnership. The match turned into an exciting battle with Singh dismissing the inform Kohli in the 12th over. Kohli, going for a slog sweep, was caught by Blizzard at mid wicket for 11 runs.
Chahal, who bowled brilliantly, had Arun Karthik caught at long off for a duck. Bangalore batting wobbled under pressure with 65 runs still needed from 45 balls.
Mohammad Kaif and Tiwary were made to struggle for runs. Pollard swung the match totally in Mumbai’s favour dismissing Kaif for three and to leave the rest for Malinga (2 for 23) to end Bangalore’s challenge.
Earlier, Bangalore skipper Daniel Vettori with two wickets and Raju Bhatkal with a tight three wicket spell backed by excellent fielding tied down the Mumbai batsmen.
Mumbai’s three batsmen too got run out which included James Franklin who top scored with 41 runs.
Both the teams retained the same eleven that played the semifinal and took them to the final. Mumbai elected to bat but lost the wicket of opener Aiden Blizzard, run out in the second over to a terrible mix up.
Sarul Kanwar who had began his innings by hitting the first six of the match off last ball of the first over from Tillakaratne Dilshan, refused to run for a shot Blizzard played to mid off.
Ambati Rayudu joined Kanwar, who began to time his shots well. He even hit Sreenath Aravind over extra cover for a boundary but Dirk Nannes put an end his knock.
Nannes with a swinging delivery timed at 148kph clean bowled Kanwar for 13. With both the openers back in the pavilion for 24 runs in the fourth over of the match, the mantle of lifting Mumbai out of trouble fell on James Franklin and Rayudu.
Franklin went for his shots and hit Aravind for a well-timed six to mid wicket and followed it up with a smashing cover drive for a boundary. Bangalore skipper Daniel Vettori bowled a tight first over giving away just four runs.
Raju Bhatkal too prevented the batsmen from taking any liberties. Rayudu hit Vettori’s first ball of the second over for six to mid wicket but still could not get on top of the bowling. Bhatkal had Rayudu caught at extra cover while going for a big hit at 22. At the half way mark, Mumbai were 71 for 3 in ten overs and hopes of total over 150 looked bleak.
Suryakumar Yadav hit the first ball he faced from Bhatkal for a boundary but could not get any more boundaries in the next two overs. Franklin too was also tied down with Chris Gayle bowling a tight over. Yadav managed to hit Dilshan for a six and a boundary over long on in the 13th over.
Franklin ushered in Mumbai’s 100-run mark by hitting Vettori over midwicket but to the very next ball Yadav got run out for 24. In the next over, Franklin too got run out, the third run out of the innings. Franklin’s 41 runs off 29 balls contained two boundaries and two sixes.
Vettori tightened the grip on the match forcing Kieron Pollard hit straight to Virat Kohli at long off for 2. In the same over, Vettori trapped Mumbai skipper Harbhajan Singh leg before for a duck. Malinga, who joined Rajagopal Satish, hit Aravind for a six over the sightscreen. Satish too hit Bhatkal for a six but got out the next ball.
Malinga too followed for 16 runs and in the end Mumbai could muster post only a run rate of 6.95 runs per over.
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![[JUGRAJ SINGH]](https://www.unp.me/data/avatars/s/123/123038.jpg?1591210006){kind=avatar}
