CSK win third IPL title after Shane Watson century destroys SRH

IANS

Shane Watson scored his second century of IPL 2018 as CSK beat SRH by 8 wickets to win their third title in Mumbai on Sunday.

Chasing 179 to win, CSK lost Faf du Plessis early but thereafter batted with such dominance -- largely due to Watson's incredible effort -- that they crossed the line in just 18.3 overs.

First Watson and Suresh Raina (32) added 117 off 57 balls and then the Aussie allrounder stitched 48 runs with Ambati Rayudu (16 not out) as CSK joined MI on three IPL titles each.

Man of the Match Watson, who inexplicably took 11 balls to open his account, remained unbeaten on 117 off 57 balls and hit 11 fours and eight sixes during the course of his innings.

In all, it was Watson's fourth ton in the history of the league. More importantly, it made a sweet homecoming possible for CSK after a two-year suspension.

It was MS Dhoni's men first title since 2011.

Earlier in the day after CSK put SRH into bat at the Wankhede Stadium, Yusuf Pathan, like Watson, showed there was life in the old dog yet.

While Orange Cap winner Kane Williamson top-scored for SRH with a 36-ball 47, it was IPL veteran Yusuf's 25-ball 45 not out that took the team to a total of 178/6.

Yusuf, three-time IPL winner (once with RR and twice with KKR), joined Shakib Al Hasan with SRH in a tricky situation having just lost captain Williamson, who was looking good for a big score.

No.3 Williamson had added 51 runs for the second wicket with opener Shikhar Dhawan to leave behind bad memories of Shreevats Goswami's run-out early in the innings.

The scoring responsibility entirely fell to Yusuf after Williamson's departure and boy did he rise to the occasion. He dominated the 32-run stand with 27 runs. 

Yusuf showed his immense IPL experience and played a well-calculated innings. He largely looked for singles and doubles but whenever the opportunity presented itself he was equal to the task. Still his strike rate was close to 200.

However, with the arrival of Carlos Brathwaite as Deepak Hooda returned after scoring just 3, Yusuf chose to play second fiddle and in the 34-run stand with the powerful West Indian contributed 10. 

It was a brainy show on all counts and that SRH reached a solid total was largely due to his exploits with the bat. Yusuf hit four fours and two sixes. 

However as it turned out, Watson played a sublime innings to dwarf Yusuf's effort by a long way.