IPL 2015 Final: Five Things We Learned From Mumbai Indians Winning Their Second Title

It was for the third time Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings were involved in an IPL final

Mumbai Indians (MI), by way of a massive 41-run victory over the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), lifted their second Indian Premier League (IPL) title that has got them equal with Chennai and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), as the teams to have won 2 titles apiece.

It was an imperious display from the home side that never let CSK off the hook, and it was, from a neutral's point-of-view, disappointing to witness such an one-sided final to bring the curtains down on what has by far been the most competitive season.

MS Dhoni won the toss and strangely, chose to bowl first on what has been a good batting wicket at the Eden Gardens this season. The Chennai skipper probably went by the record of the 6 completed games this season, at this venue, which has seen the teams chasing win 4 times. But it was a decision that, you could say, played it into MI's hands, as the hosts have been happy to bat first and put a total on the board.

Francois du Plessis inflicted a brilliant run out of Parthiv Patel in the very first over, to kick start Chennai's bowling innings on a resounding note. However, Rohit Sharma walked in at No.3 and played a simply magical innings.

The Mumbai batsman, along with the ever consistent Lendl Simmons, played audaciously and the Chennai bowlers didn't have an answer to the fluency that this partnership exuded.

This partnership, which put together a whopping 119 from a mere 67 balls, put their side in firm control of the proceedings very early on in the game, but by no means would have wanted to get out in subsequent overs (the 12th and 13th), and open the flood gates for the Super Kings.

Ambati Rayudu and Kieron Pollard, though, made sure that there wasn't a further procession of wickets, soon after the quick fall of Simmons-Rohit duo. They took their time to settle down before going for the big strokes, as they sought to reach that magical 200-run mark.

Mumbai reached 202/5 at the end of their 20 overs, with 4 of their batsmen making substantial contributions to the team's cause and tearing the visitors' bowling attack apart. 203 was always going to be a massive total to chase, but a good start was imperative if CSK had to set the cat amongst the pigeons.

Lasith Malinga and Mitchell McClenaghan, as they have done on so many occasions this season, bowled well with the new ball, restricting Dwayne Smith and Michael Hussey to just a handful of scoring shots in the mandatory powerplay.

It meant that Dhoni's side needed more than 12 runs-per-over after the powerplay was over, which was going to be arduous given that Chennai's middle-order has failed miserably this season and none of their batsmen has been in any sort of form whatsoever.

Mumbai's bowlers were clinical in the way they went about their trade, using the scoreboard pressure to their advantage and halting the CSK batsmen from ball No.1.

Smith top-scored for the visitors with a 48-ball 59, which was an unusual innings from him and not one that gave Chennai the kind of start they were looking for in pursuit of 203. CSK, as a result, left themselves with too much to do in the last quarter of the game, and started losing wickets in a heap towards the end.

The Indians went onto win the game by a massive 41 runs, thereby clinching their second IPL title and issuing a warning to the other franchises. What did we make of that one-sided IPL 2015 final?

Read on...

Mumbai showed the quality of champions

Mumbai got themselves out of trouble on a couple of occasions, which proved crucial to their victory

Chennai couldn't have asked for a better start than the one they got when Parthiv ran himself out in trying to pinch a single against du Plessis at mid-on.

Mumbai have thrived on the good starts rendered by their openers throughout this season, and an early wicket surely wasn't the way to start, as far as they were concerned.

However, having said that, Rohit walked in at No.3 and took the attack to the opposition, playing freely and taking Chennai by surprise.

The visitors probably didn't see it coming, as Simmons was Rohit's batting partner and expected to play the big shots, with the skipper anchoring the innings.

It was quite a significant phase - from the 2nd over till the completion of the powerplay - in the game, which was won by Mumbai and that then gave them the edge over their opponents on the night.

There was another crucial phase during the MI innings, when Rohit and Simmons got out in a matter of couple of balls and Chennai had a chance to get back into the game.

Rayudu and Pollard, though, were sensible in the way they approached it, not relinquishing the advantage they had got as a result of the 119-run stand between Simmons and Rohit.

During their batting innings, Mumbai played the better cricket than Chennai, who couldn't come up with the answers to the questions the Indians put forward to them.

A good batting performance helped the visitors pile on 202 on the night of the finals, but it was important for them to kill the game off by bowling well at the beginning of CSK's innings; by restricting Chennai to a paltry 31/1 from the mandatory powerplay, Mumbai got a stranglehold of the game and didn't look back thereafter.

Therefore, they showed the quality of the champions and were deserving of their 2nd IPL title.

Chennai are a declining force in the IPL

Suresh Raina had a poor season, and contributed to his side's failure

On a night when MI issued a statement of intent to the rest of the IPL outfits, Chennai, by way of losing their third straight final, increasingly look like a side that is on the decline.

They have by far been the most consistent side throughout the history of the IPL, but this season has been a poor one by their standards and their weaknesses were exploited by Mumbai yesterday.

Chennai lost the moments in the game they were expected to come out on top, and their poor performance contributed to such a one-side final.

Mumbai played a sumptuous brand of cricket, but the visitors never came up with one stern response and that is the primary reason why I think they are fast becoming a declining force in the IPL.

The nature of the T20 cricket is such that it can make you look too good one day, and the exact opposite on another. But Chennai were appalling as a unit, led by Dhoni, who needs to raise his game first and foremost.

The decision to field first was another one of those tactical errors he has made this season, and then his failure to conjure up a turnaround after Mumbai looked in complete control of the game, was not good to see, at all.

If the Super Kings need to return to their impeccable best as a unit, Dhoni has simply got to improve on his batting, which has been one of the negative aspects of his, as well as the South Indian franchise's, season.

His captaincy and the way he manipulated his bowling options, was predictable and left a lot to be desired.

I thought that he could have utilized Dwayne Bravo better than he did throughout this season. The all-rounder finished the season with 26 wickets, and was tough to get away for most batsmen in the IPL. Therefore, it was a no brainer to maybe use him for an over or two in the first half of the batting innings, thereby stop the opponents from dictating the tempo and easily grab at least one wicket, which can mean so much in the context of a T20 game.

While their skipper typified CSK's season, the likes of Suresh Raina, Smith and du Plessis disappointed with the bat, too, and it was probably 'the' reason for Chennai failing to be competitive during the second half of the season.

MI played their best cricket on the night of the finals

The Indians, as we all have seen, made an obnoxious start to their IPL 2015 campaign, losing the first four games and inviting serious derision for the way they kept failing as a unit during the first few weeks of the 8th edition of the Pepsi IPL.

They turned their form around before the completion of the first half of the league phase, and hit their best form mid-way through the second half of the tournament.

However, it wasn't as though they dominated their games and registered comfortable victories; they had to work hard to get two points in the league phase and even in the Qualifier 1, Mumbai had to drop sweat and blood to overcome CSK.

Mumbai were clinical, close to flawless on the night of the finals

On the night of the finals, though, MI's performance was very close to flawless, and that was the reason for Chennai struggling to find enough openings and get themselves back into the game.

Mumbai were brilliant with the bat; the bowling attack fed off the good work done by the batsmen, and the ground fielding, and catching, was better than most nights during this IPL.

It was a comprehensive MI performance that couldn't have arrived at a more appropriate stage of the tournament.

Rohit leading from the front was invigorating to see

In the build up to the Qualifier 1 against CSK, Rohit spoke quite a lot about playing fearless cricket and it, therefore, was rather good to see the captain taking the mantle upon himself and living up to his own words.

When he came into bat in the finals, his side was in a spot of bother, and it could have been easy for him to think of smothering the Chennai bowling attack, playing the anchor role and focusing too much on not losing anymore wickets in the powerplay.

But there was genuine intent from Rohit, who struck boundaries from the first delivery he faced, shifting the pressure back on to the Chennai bowlers.

Rohit, during his vigil in the middle, scored runs across all areas of the ground and finished with 50 (26), an innings that was punctuated with six 4s and a couple of crisply struck 6s. I thought Rohit's innings was one of the major turning points in the game.

Rohit's captaincy has been rather impressive this season

When Mumbai came onto bowl, Rohit once again was astute in the way he utilized his bowlers, clearly understanding the situation of the game and executing his tactics perfectly.

Like in the Qualifier 1, he had to make a decision of not bowling Jagadeesha Suchith while the visitors had a left-hander batting in the middle, and he manipulated his other bowling options very well. Suchith, in fact, never bowled in the game, which saw Hardik Pandya complete his four overs for the first time in the title-winning season.

The stylish right-hander was probably not as consistent as he would have liked to be with the bat, but overall, Rohit had a wonderful IPL 2015 season as a skipper and secondly, batsman.

In hindsight, it wasn't an unexpected result, except for the margin of it

Chennai did well to win against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Qualifier 2 and qualify for the 6th IPL final in their history.

However, despite that 3-wicket victory, Dhoni's devils had won just 4 of their 9 games prior to last night's finals, while Mumbai, on the other hand, had won 8 of their 9 games and were clearly the favorites to pip CSK for the title.

Mumbai outshone Chennai in all three departments of the game and, as aforementioned, the visitors didn't have an answer to the dominance shown by the hosts.

It wasn't a surprising script, because MI were the more in-form of the two finalists

CSK were afforded very few chances or opportunities, if at all there were any, and the Indians were well-organized and had a method to their approach, an aspect that Chennai lacked.

Maybe in a final of a T20 competition, you didn't expect such a massive margin of victory for Mumbai, considering that Chennai are a good side and thrive on occasions such as last night's.

However, they simply weren't at it, and simply put: the more in-form of the two sides clinched it.

Final Thought

Chennai, with their loss yesterday, have now won only two of the six IPL finals they have contested, and it was a shame that they didn't even manage to run a resurgent MI side close.

Mumbai Indians have surprised many cricket followers around the world

From Mumbai's perspective, it was yet another team performance that had every member of the playing XI contributing in one way or another, to help their side win the title back from KKR's grasp. With their 10th victory in their last 11 games, MI completed the turnaround by winning the prestigious crown.

IPL 2015, Qualifier 2: A Match-up Between Royal Challengers Bangalore's Temperament Against Chennai Super Kings's Current Form

The 8th edition of the Pepsi Indian Premier League (IPL) has been an amazing tournament so far, and the final two games - a virtual semi-final and final - involving three heavyweight teams, should live up to the billing, as well.

Can Dhoni find his mojo tonight, playing in Ranchi?

The JSCA International Stadium in Ranchi will host the second qualifier, a South Indian derby involving the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), to decide which team goes on to face the Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, in the final of IPL 2015.

MS Dhoni's men have only won 40% of their last five games, and their performance in the first qualifier clearly demonstrated their immediate form prior to such a pivotal clash.

Virat Kohli's side, on the other hand, has lost just 1 of their last five games, and their performances have been very much up to the mark too.

Tonight's clash is all about which of these teams can bring their A-game to the table, and deliver their best cricket when it matters the most.

Chennai won both their games against Bangalore in the league phase of this edition of the IPL, but they were in pretty good form at the time and therefore, managed to overwhelm the Vijay Mallya-owned franchise.

Will the current form for either of these sides determine their passage into Sunday's finals? Or will Dhoni find his mojo tonight, playing in his hometown and defeat Team India's new Test captain Kohli once again? Answers to follow...

The player battles in this intriguing tussle between CSK and RCB could have a profound impact on the end result of the game.

Man-to-man there is not much to choose between these two star-studded lineups, with the Challengers, in particular, wanting to do well and overcome their ineptitude to win their first IPL title.

Talking of Chennai first, Brendon McCullum's significance to his side's form in the early phase of this IPL cannot be stressed enough: he was ultra-aggressive at the top of the order, and Dhoni's devils invariably got the upper hand very early on in their games, managing to do enough thereafter, to remain ahead of the opposition.

Dwayne Smith has struggled after a few good innings' early on, and Michael Hussey, with his conventional and calculated approach to cricket, will not bother most opponents.

du Plessis will hold the key to CSK's chances of winning this game

The Super Kings' middle order has flattered to deceive this season, and it simply got to come good tonight, in order for their side to have a chance of beating the red hot RCB.

The good news, however, for them is that the Challengers' bowling attack can be made to look ordinary, with Mitchell Starc being the only bowler who can pose danger to the batsmen regardless of the nature of the playing surface.

Chennai, for me, need to get their batting order sorted and what I mean by it is that Dhoni has been the villain for his side, failing to score quick runs and stick to a position in the batting lineup.

The Indian ODI skipper has walked into bat at various positions during the 15 games so far, upsetting the rhythm of the batsman in the middle and approach of the ones, Faf du Plessis, for instance, to follow him.

Even without McCullum, CSK have got the batsmen to cash in on a relatively inexperienced RCB attack, and are capable of posting a big total on the board if they do get to bat first.

Their bowling has been steady throughout the tournament and Dhoni, in the aftermath of defeat to MI in the first qualifier, admitted that he was happy with how his bowlers fared, even though Mumbai got up to 187 after looking like they would only get to 170, at best.

Ravindra Jadeja and Mohit Sharma, though, remain the weak links in their side's bowling attack, but it will be greatly surprising if Dhoni changes two of his trusted personnel, at this stage of the season.

Moving onto RCB, they look a better batting side compared to their opponents tonight. In AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle and Kohli, Bangalore have three batsmen in the top 10 leading run-scorers of the tournament, and will hold the key to tonight's encounter.

RCB must be in good spirits ahead of tonight's game

Gayle can be a bit of hit-and-miss, though he can do significant damage to the opponent' chances of winning if he bats for 10 overs; Kohli, while opening the batting along with the Jamaican, has sought to play the anchor role; and de Villiers, without having to say anything, looks totally irrepressible at the moment.

But, again, the Royal Challengers' batting lineup is akin to Chennai's, in that they too have a brittle middle order which can capitulate against the bowling trio of Ashish Nehra, Dwayne Bravo and Ravichandran Ashwin.

Mandeep Singh played a magnificent innings against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) a couple of nights back, and will once again have to step up to the plate tonight. The all-rounder skills of David Wiese will hold the key to RCB posting a big total if they bat first, or have to chase to reach the finals.

RCB's bowling attack has done well, but will have to come good against Chennai

Royal Challengers' bowling attack has done well, picking 96 wickets in the 15 games they have played. Yuzvendra Chahal and Harshal Patel have delivered wickets and consistency, picking 21 and 16 wickets, respectively, so far, but face their biggest test tonight against CSK.

Sreenath Arvind, in the 4 games, has done well, but needs to stand up tonight; Chennai might try to score heavily against him.

Summary

As you can see, there is absolutely 'nothing' to choose between CSK and RCB, who promise yet another intriguing T20 cricket match in this year's Pepsi IPL.

And, as the headline suggests, it will be a tussle between the Royal Challengers' temperament against the Super Kings' current form.

Indian Premier League (IPL): Will This Be Royal Challengers Bangalore' Year To Remember?

Virat Kohli will be determined to win the IPL this season

It wouldn't be unfair of any of us to claim that Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have been the greatest underachievers in seven previous seasons in the Indian Premier League.

The Vijay Mallya-owned franchise has always possessed some of the star-studded names - Kevin Pietersen, Dale Steyn, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Yuvraj Singh, to name a few - in world cricket, but have yet to win the prestigious IPL title.

They, however, have managed to reach the finals of the world's greatest T20 competition on two occasions, losing to the Deccan Chargers (now the Sunrisers Hyderabad) in 2009 and Chennai Super Kings in 2011.

In five other seasons, RCB made it to the last four once, while bowing out of the tournament in the league phase itself on four other occasions.

They haven't played to potential in most of the past seven IPL editions, but will the 8th edition of IPL be Royal Challengers'?

8th edition of the IPL

The Royal Challengers have not made many changes to their squad from the one they had last season.

Dinesh Karthik, bought from Delhi Daredevils (DD) for Rs. 10,50,00,000, has been the franchise' major purchase this season.

The likes of Darren Sammy, Adam Milne, David Wiese, Sean Abbott, Sarfaraz Khan, Subramaniam Badrinath, Jalaj Saxena and Shishir Bhavane have also been bought with the hope of further reinforcing the squad.

Virat Kohli, for the persona he has, will be rather determined to bring the very best of the squad he has at his disposal and win what would be his first major honor as an international skipper.

A quick review of what RCB have done so far in the tournament

The Royal Challengers came racing out of the blocks in their very first game of this IPL season, making a statement of intent with a comprehensive victory over the defending champions, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), on their own den.

Having been asked to bat first after losing the toss, Gautam Gambhir and co. put on a massive 177/6 in their allotted 20 overs.

The visitors, though, made a mockery of such a massive run chase, getting the job done with six balls to spare. Chris Gayle scored a 56-ball 96 to singlehandedly guide his side to a 4-wicket victory.

However, after that emphatic victory to begin their IPL campaign, the Challengers seemed to lose their way in the next three fixtures, two of which were against established and heavyweight franchises in the Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

Even more obtrusively, all three of those games, including the one against the Sunrisers, were played on the cauldron of Chinnaswamy Stadium, but the home side went onto lose all three fixtures, and comprehensively, too.

Yuzvendra Chahal's wickets, David Wiese's all-round performances and Kohli's consistency with the bat, were the solitary positives to come out of those hat-trick of defeats that prompted us to think RCB may be no different to their previous three IPL seasons in which they failed to make it to the playoffs.

After the home defeat to the Super Kings, the Royal Challengers had the major proposition of facing Rajasthan Royals (RR) - who were playing a sublime brand of cricket and had lost just one of their first six fixtures - at the Motera.

Mitchell Starc has added potency to the RCB bowling attack

With Mitchell Starc clicking into gear in his second game after coming to India, RCB's bowling attack blew away the Royals' batting lineup that managed to put up a paltry 130 on the board. The Challengers, with Kohli anchoring the innings with a 46-ball 62 and AB de Villiers scoring a breezy 47 off 34 deliveries, romped to a 9-wicket victory with 23 balls to spare.

Kohli's men followed the rout of Royals with the decimation of Daredevils at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Having been asked to bat after losing the toss, the Daredevils could muster a mere 95 on the board, with Starc once again picking up a 3-for and Wiese coming good with the ball and picking up two wickets.

Kohli and Gayle completed the formalities in 10.3 overs, without losing a wicket. Will such an imperious victory set the Challengers on their way into the playoffs after three barren years? Read on...

Team combination and strengths

Kohli, in the aftermath of the victory over DD, said that particular playing XI gives them a better balance, and alluded to maybe persisting with the same combination in the coming games too.

Kohli himself looks to have made his mind to open the batting for his side, playing the anchor role and letting the more explosive batsmen - Gayle and de Villiers - to play around him.

India's No.3 has batted immaculately while opening the innings in the last two games, remaining unbeaten on both the occasions and seeing his team through to victory.

Though you could say that Kohli opening the innings makes RCB's middle order a tad brittle, the Delhi batsman is more than capable of holding the innings together. Also, he hasn't taken a whole lot of risks, which has also been because of the moderate and low totals Challengers have been set recently, on occasions when he has opened the batting.

Gayle and de Villiers have always been a fearsome batting combo in the IPL circuit and, as long as one of them scores big runs, RCB will pose a major threat to most IPL outfits.

Kohli, Gayle and de Villiers are the batting mainstays as far as the Challengers are concerned. If Gayle and Kohli continue opening the innings for their side, de Villiers will have to shoulder the responsibility of the middle order that, barring Karthik and Rilee Rossouw, if the South African gets an outing, doesn't have a marquee batsman to contend with for the opposition. This scenario of RCB's is akin to Sunrisers' who have a very weak middle order and depend heavily on Shikhar Dhawan and David Warner to make the majority of the runs.

The bowling combination has a good look to it since Starc has come over from Australia. The left-arm quickie has picked up 7 wickets in the three games he has played so far, spearheading and adding more potency to the RCB attack.

Varun Aaron bowled well in RCB's last game against the Daredevils, but he has been expensive and inconsistent and that will have to change soon.

Harshal Patel, the Haryana fast bowler, has been disciplined in his bowling efforts, keeping the opposition batsmen quiet and picking up 5 wickets in his 5 outings so far in the tournament.

Wiese, with his medium-fast stuff and ability to bowl according to the playing surface, is another crucial component of the Challengers' bowling attack.

The spinners: Chahal, in particular, has bowled really well throughout the tournament, picking up 10 wickets in the 5 games he has played in so far; Iqbal Abdulla, the slow left-arm spinner from Mumbai, has done reasonably well in the 4 games he has played in.

Such a lineup gives the Royal Challengers real hope going into their next seven games of the campaign, which no doubt will be crucial to their chances of making it to the playoffs.

Also, by far the biggest strength of RCB is the set of overseas players they have at their disposal. Gayle, de Villiers and Starc are certainties in the Challengers' team sheet; add Wiese to that trio, and you have perfect blend of pure batsmen, bowler and all-rounder. I doubt any other franchise enjoys such a luxury in this aspect of the IPL.

Possible weaknesses

RCB are yet to win at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, which is a really high-scoring ground and toss plays a crucial role in the end-result of the game.

If you lose the toss and are asked to bat first, as a batting side you got to contend with the pressure of setting a total your bowlers can defend. But, even after posting totals in excess of 180, the target can be made to look a small one if one opposition batsman holds fort for his team.

This is one area that the Royal Challengers need to work on and possibly register a couple of victories in their upcoming home games against the Royals and Knight Riders.

The home form is a concern for the Royal Challengers

If they don't start winning on their home turf, they will make the task of making it to the last four that much more tougher for themselves, as they are yet to travel to venues like Wankhede Stadium and Chidambaram Stadium, where it is not going to be easy to get results, not that they are incapable of.

On current form, it is probably their home form that will cause some concern for them. In addition, the brittle middle order may cause them problems if Virat or Gayle, or both of them, fail on a given day and de Villiers has to stabilize the ship.

Final Thought

RCB may have won only 50% of their games so far in this season's IPL, but there are already signs that they are going to be a force to reckon with this season. Yes, there are a few chinks in their armor, like any other IPL side, but few sides have the balance that the Royal Challengers Bangalore enjoy.