Mumbai Indians won a record fifth IPL title with victory over Delhi Capitals in the final of this year’s tournament.
MI restricted DC to 156 after New Zealand bowler Trent Boult struck early. The Capitals were able to recover through skipper Shreyas Iyer (65) and Rishabh Pant (56) but were always up against it.
Indians captain Rohit Sharma had been struggling after a return from injury but bounced back to form to guide his side to victory.
He hit a 51-ball 68 to help deliver a fifth Indian Premier League title to Mumbai in eight years. Ishant Kishan continued his own impressive campaign with an unbeaten 33.
Mumbai had previously topped the IPL group stages and booked their place in the final by defeating Delhi in the first Qualifier clash.
They then made no mistake against the same opposition in the final in Dubai to also chalk up back-to-back championships.
Speaking after the match, West Indies star Kieron Pollard explained just what it means to lift yet another IPL trophy.
He said: “It's a good feeling, it means a lot. Having been here for 11 years, a fifth trophy is fantastic.
“It's the work that goes on behind the scenes. No one sees the preparation and planning. To come out and deliver on the field, it's pressure, yes, but you can only get better as an individual.
“If you take everything on board, you take it with a pinch of salt and you take it positive.”
Hard Work Pays Off
Star bowler Jasprit Bumrah underlined the hard work that Mumbai have put in.
He said: “(We're) very happy, we have worked hard, we started preparing before others, we worked through process.
“We wanted to break the jinx of winning every two years. It means a great deal, the pandemic has been such a shock, we are just grateful to come back and play cricket, something we love.
“We are just happy we could bring back some smiles to the people back home, it's been a tough few months.”
On his own performance, he added: “From the first game, I felt my rhythm was up, when I bowled the super over here, I felt I could execute against AB and Virat.
“Since then, my confidence went up, I just wanted to keep things simple and repeat the basics every time.”
