Rajasthan Royals won the inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL) title, defeating Chennai Super Kings by three wickets in a last-ball finish in the final at the D.Y. Patil Sports Academy here Sunday night.
Riding on a brilliant 56 off 39 balls by Yusuf Pathan, Rajasthan Royals achieved the target of 164 off the last ball.
Rajasthan Royals IPL winners in IPL Cricket Final - defeats Chennai Super Kings in a nail biting finish.
So finally the climax is over - Rajasthan proved that they are the team of DLF IPL T20. They played well throughout the series and did maintain their form till the last ball of the tournament. With the semifinals being one sided matches, the final was a terrific finish with match evenly poised till the last ball.
It was Yousuf Pathan (IPL Finals Man of the Match) who did it for Rajasthan Royals in the final - both with the bat and with the ball. His partnership with to be man of the series Shane Watson was the most critical part of the Rajasthan Royals innings. Shane Warne did played his bit in scoring a crucial boundary and taking good singles in the last over.
This is first time that luck didn't go in Dhoni's way - generally he has the reputation of winning close matches. But the way IPL Cricket made its impact in its first season - the close final was the best way to wrap up things.
MacGill announces Test retirement
Australia leg-spinner Stuart MacGill is to retire from Test cricket at the end of the current match against West Indies in Antigua.
The 37-year-old's decision was announced during a rain hold-up at the start of the third day's play.
It leaves uncapped Beau Casson as the only specialist spinner in the squad for the third Test in Barbados.
And it could lead to calls for Shane Warne to make himself available for the 2009 Ashes series in England.
Warne is the leading wicket-taker in Tests with 708 victims, but he quit the international scene in January last year.
He recently hinted that he could be willing to come out of retirement to face England again by saying: "If they really needed me and there was no-one else around, you'd weigh up the options."
But only hours before MacGill's retirement was made public, Warne insisted he was "very happy with retirement". Read more..
IPL is not dumbing down of cricket, insists Tendulkar
New Delhi: Purists may dismiss the Indian Premier League (IPL) as dumbing down of cricket but Sachin Tendulkar feels instead of being criticised, the glamorous twenty20 series should be lauded for globalising the game.
"I don't personally feel that, you know, (IPL is) dumbing down the game. It's just another version of cricket," Tendulkar said.
"Test cricket is there and then they started one-day cricket many years ago and one-day cricket has been a tremendous success and if the game is gonna get globalised in the form of IPL, then why not? It's better for cricket," he added in defence of the league that has been criticised for being too glamorous and money-centric.
The veteran right-hander said despite playing the game for the past 19 years, he still gets child-like excited every time he steps out to bat in an international game, especially at his home ground -- The Wankhede.
"It's a special place. That is what I've dreamt of as a kid and then I'm living that dream and that's just fabulous. Every time I walk out, you hear the crowd going crazy, I mean it's just a special feeling.
