Dhoni sat with motionless eyes on his seat in the dug-out, Stephen Fleming’s eyes wandered into the skies, even the usually chirpy Ashish Nehra stood frozen in the tenseness of the moment. Sharma seemed to be a man in a hurry; Jadeja a picture of ice-veined poise. An uneasy excitement clutched the stadium, perhaps the hunch that something special was to unfold.
The all-rounder wasn’t the player of the match nor did he take home any of the many awards handed to the season’s stand-out performers. But in the wee hours of an IPL final that stretched to three days, Jadeja achieved something that was way more precious and lasting – he won the trust of the fans and faith of the terraces. CSK will always remember Jadeja for the game where he scored just 15 runs and had figures of 1/38.
Chennai Super Kings won their fifth Indian Premier League title in dramatic fashion as Ravindra Jadeja’s last-over heroics secured a five-wicket win over defending champions Gujarat Titans off the last ball.In thrilling scenes in the early hours of the morning in Ahmedabad, Jadeja hit the last two balls for six and four off Mohit Sharma as Chennai chased a revised target of 171 in 15 overs.
It followed a washout to the originally scheduled day’s play for the final on Sunday and a two-and-a-half hour rain delay during the reserve day on Monday.
Earlier, Gujarat were put into bat and racked up an imposing 214-4 in their 20 overs after number three batter Sai Sudharsan capitalised on a strong start and smashed an incendiary 96 off 47 balls that included six sixes.
