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Mumbai Indians win Indian Premier League

Mumbai win IPL
© AP Photos
Mumbai Indians claim their first ever Indian Premier League title by beating two-time champions Chennai Super Kings by 23 runs at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

Mumbai Indians have claimed their first ever Indian Premier League title by beating two-time champions Chennai Super Kings in Kolkata.

The Indians, who finished second in the regular-season table, won a pulsating final by 23 runs at Eden Gardens on Sunday.

Mumbai won the toss and elected to bat first, only to be reduced to just 16-3 after 20 deliveries.

However, they recovered from their nightmare start to post a competitive total of 148-9, largely thanks to an unbeaten 60 off 32 balls from Kieron Pollard.

Dwayne Smith (4) perished in the fourth ball of the match, when he was out lbw off the bowling of Mohit Sharma.

Albie Morkel then inflicted a golden duck upon Aditya Tare, leaving Mumbai on 8-2 after just seven deliveries.

Morkel did more damage in the fourth over, as Indians captain Rohit Sharma (2) was caught and bowled by the South African.

Dinesh Karthik (21) and Ambati Rayudu (37) provided some stability with a solid partnership of 36, before the former played a low Chris Morris delivery onto his stumps.

That dismissal meant that Pollard was prematurely called to the crease midway through the 10th over.

The big Trinidadian got off the mark with a much-needed four down the ground, before going on to find the boundary on a further nine occasions.

Dwayne Bravo, who claimed the Purple Cap with 32 IPL wickets, accounted for the dismissals of Rayudu, Harbhajan Singh (14), Mitchell Johnson (1) and Lasith Malinga (0).

However, he was unable to uproot Pollard, who dispatched his West Indies teammate for the 667th six of the tournament with the penultimate ball of the innings, before hitting another maximum off the final delivery.

The momentum continued with Mumbai following the innings break, as Malinga produced some magic with the new ball to dismiss Mike Hussey and Suresh Raina inside the first over.

Orange Cap winner Hussey was clean-bowled for one, before Raina (0) edged to Smith next ball.

Johnson then joined the party in the second over, as he saw off Subramaniam Badrinath, who was caught behind by Karthik for nought.

Bravo (15) dispatched three powerful fours, but he soon became Johnson's second victim, as Rishi Dhawan took a simple catch.

With the pressure mounting, Chennai began to show signs of nervousness, as immature batting led to Ravindra Jadeja (0) and Murali Vijay (18) going cheaply.

Morkel (10) was then done all ends up by a superb Pragyan Ojha yorker, before Singh removed Morris for a duck to leave CSK reeling on 58-8.

Any hope of a Chennai victory rested on the shoulders of MS Dhoni, who had earlier come in at number seven with his side on 36-5.

The India captain contributed 63 not out off 45 balls, but it was not enough as the Super Kings finished comfortably short on 125-9.

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Robert Summerscales
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Rohit Sharma plays a shot for India in their match against South Africa during the ICC Twenty20 Cricket World Cup on October 2, 2012
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