Moeen Ali and Faf du Plessis starred as the Chennai Super Kings thrashed the Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2021 India Premier League final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Scorecard: Chennai Super Kings v Kolkata Knight Riders
Chennai Super Kings: 192-3 (du Plessis 86, Ali 37 not out; Narine 2-26)
Kolkata Knight Riders: 165-9 (Gill 51, Iyer 50; Thakur 3-38)
KKR won the toss and elected to bowl - CSK won by 27 runs
England's Ali struck 37 off 20 balls in a 68-run partnership with South African Faf du Plessis to push CSK to a mammoth 192-3.
Opener Shubman Gill led KKR's fightback, top-scoring for the Knight Riders with 51 to give Sporting Life readers an 11/4 winner.
But despite half-centuries from Gill and Venkatesh Iyer (50), Kolkata - who had won the toss and elected to field - collapsed in the final 10 overs to finish on 165-9.
Shardul Thakur impressed with the ball for Chennai, collecting figures of 3-38 as the Yellow Army - and their 40-year-old captain MS Dhoni - won their fourth IPL crown by 27 runs.
'I could have been dropped' - Ali becomes first English IPL winner
Ali, who became the first Englishman to win an IPL final, entered the crease in the 14th over with the scores at 124-2 after orange-cap-winner Ruturaj Gaikwad and Robin Uthappa had fallen for 32 and 31 respectively.
The left-hander batted conservatively at first, scoring just three from his first nine balls. But he quickly upped the strike rate, smashing three sixes and two fours to provide support to du Plessis and help CSK post an intimidating total.
"I could have been dropped a couple of games ago but you get the backing here," he told reporters after the game. "As a player you just want to give back.
"I can't describe how I'm feeling. I can't believe I was able to do it. To do it with this team in my first year is amazing."
Eoin Morgan's Knight Riders put up a worthy fight, his side finishing the powerplay on 55-0, five runs ahead of where Chennai were after six overs.
But Indian paceman Thakur impressed with the ball as KKR collapsed from 91-0 to 108-4 in 14 deliveries midway through the innings.
And once Kolkata's top four were removed, with the required run rate above 12 per over, a fourth IPL title for CSK looked certain.
In the 2012 final, KKR chased 191 against CSK. In the 2014 final, they chased 200 against Kings XI Punjab. This time around their opponents always seemed to be 20 runs ahead.
"I'm extremely proud of the fight that we showed," said Knight Riders skipper Morgan. "We've really showed the Kolkata values.
"Our guys fought incredibly hard. Unfortunately today it was one game too many."
Dhoni to retire on a high?
The win caps off a superb season for the Super Kings who had failed to qualify for the play-offs for the first time last year.
But they were relentless this campaign, finishing second in the league stage behind the Delhi Capitals who they beat in the semi-finals on Sunday.
On that day they needed heroics from their skipper and former India captain Dhoni who struck 13 in the final over as CSK scraped through to the final with two balls to spare.
Dhoni, who is rumoured to be retiring over the off-season, wasn't needed with the bat at Dubai International Cricket Stadium as three successive 50-partnerships put his side in the driving seat.
But the keeper's presence was again unmissable in the field. Now, only the Mumbai Indian's five wins can better CSK's and Dhoni's totals.
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