It was a heartbroken story for Rahul Dravid’s Rajasthan Royals, as defending IPL Champions Mumbai Indians outclassed them in a high-voltage final tonight to win the Karbonn Smart CLT20 2013 title. Harbhajan Singh struck at the right time to dash the hopes of Royals, who desperately missed injured Brad Hodge.
It was dubbed as the ‘Clash of the Titans’ and turned out to be a real thriller till Sanju Samson and Ajinkya Rahane were at the crease. The CLT20 final will be remembered as the farewell T20 match for two top guns of Indian cricket – Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. However, Sachin had the last laugh in the end. Tendulkar contributed 15 in his last T20 game, while Dravid could score just 1 after coming down the order.
Tendulkar signed of the ODI World Cup with a win. He ended his IPL campaign with a victory for Mumbai Indians in the 2013 edition. And, now he finished his CLT20 and T20 campaign with a victory. It was a fitting farewell for the master blaster, but one should feel sorry about Rahul Dravid, whose team remained unbeaten in the tournament before faltering in the last hurdle.
Rajasthan won the toss and elected to field first. Mumbai posted 202/6 in 20 overs, thanks to Dwayne Smith (44), Rayudu (29), Rohit Sharma (33) and Glenn Maxwell (37 off 14). For Rajasthan, Pravin Tambe took two wickets. He became the highest wicket-taker in the tournament.
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Chasing a victory target of 203, Rajasthan lost Perera early. But, Rahane (65 off 46) and Sanju Samson (60 off 33) put them on the track. The duo added 109 runs for the second wicket in just 11.1 overs. Just when it looked like Rajasthan will run away with the title, Harbhajan Singh struck with three wickets in the 17th over and that changed the course of the game.
Rajasthan Royals bowled out for 169 in 18.5 overs and lost the match by 33 runs. For Mumbai, Harbjahan Singh took four wickets, while Kieron Pollard took three wickets. Tenulkar got a grand stand-off from Mumbai Indians like he did in 2011 World Cup. This is the second CLT20 title for the Mumbai Indians. They had beaten the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the final to win the CLT20 title in 2011.
Harbhajan Singh was declared ‘Man of the Match’ for his superb bowling figure. Ajinkya Rahane of Rajasthan Royals won the ‘Golden Bat’ award with 288 runs, which included four fifties. Pravin Tambe of Rajasthan Royals won the ‘Golden Wicket’ award with 12 wickets at the age of 41. Dwayne Smith has been named as the ‘Champion of the Series’. Rohit Sharma collected the cheque of $2.5 million on behalf of the winning team.
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