OTD | CSK won their 2nd IPL season by beating RCB in IPL 2011 final on May 28

The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) became the first team in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL) to defend their title in 2011 against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). CSK had a pretty balanced team which allowed them to play freely. With Suresh Raina in the team, reaching the finals became an easy job as he scored most of the runs for the team. 

Even in the finals, CSK dominated the Royals as they scored 205 runs in the first innings with the help of Murali Vijay who scored 95 runs off 52 balls and Michael Hussey who scored 63 runs off 45 balls. With this kind of opening pair, how can any team lose anyway? MS Dhoni came into bat at No. 3 and scored 22 runs off 13 balls. The top-order smashed the RCB’s bowling attack and scored a tough total for the team to beat. 

When RCB came into bat, their best batter of the season, Chris Gayle got out on duck. That was the turning point of the match. Had he been there, RCB would have easily won the match. The entire team collapsed under 150 runs and CSK won the match by 58 runs. Ravichandran Ashwin was the best bowler of the match as he took three wickets at an economy of 4.00. However, for an impactful performance, Murali Vijay won the Player of the Match award. 

Also read: Deccan Chargers beat Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2009