Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain with midas touch, lifted the glittering Indian Premier League (IPL) trophy after the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) defeated the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 27 on Friday night at the Dubai International Stadium in Dubai.
While CSK laid their hands on the IPL title for the fourth time, rare feats were achieved by the ‘Men in Yellow’.
CSK’s talismanic opener Faf du Plessis, who anchored the innings with upcoming star Ruturaj Gaikwad, became the 5th oversea player in the IPL finals to win the ‘Player of the Match’ trophy, after his scintillating 59-balls 86. Faf joined Kieron Pollard, Ben Cutting, Shane Watson, Trent Boult, who got the top honour in 2013, 2016, 2018 and 2020 respectively.
Gaikwad, who impressed everyone with his maturity and shot selection, became the second player in the history of the tournament to win the Orange Cap and be a part of the winning team after Robin Uthappa did it for KKR in 2014. Gaikwad surpassed KL Rahul to win the Orange cap race. Gaikwad’s 32-run knock helped him finish the season with 635 runs from 16 matches at an average of 45.35. Gaikwad’s dream run in the season included four half-centuries and his maiden century. The 24-year-old also became the youngest (24 years and 257 days) to finish the season with orange cap breaking Shaun Marsh’s record (24 years and 328 days) in 2008 for the Punjab franchise.
For Ambati Rayudu, it was a special moment to be on the winning side yet again. For the middle-order batter, it was his fifth win in an IPL final after winning the title thrice with the Mumbai Indians (MI) in 2013, 2015, and 2017 and twice with CSK in 2018 and 2021. Only MI’s Rohit Sharma has been a part of more playing XIs in final wins.
