Mumbai Indians became Indian Premier League champions for the fourth time after defeating Chennai Super Kings by one run in a thrilling final in Hyderabad on Sunday.

Lasith Malinga produced an incredible last over to defend nine runs as Rohit Sharma lifted his fourth trophy to claim undisputed supremacy in the IPL.

CSK needed nine runs off the last over but IPL’s most prolific bowler Malinga kept his nerve to concede just seven. He trapped Shardul Thakur leg before in the last ball after Shane Watson (80 off 59) got run out two balls earlier.

Before that Jasprit Bumrah, player of the match, kept Mumbai in the hunt with his tidy overs and two wickets, getting rid of Dwayne Bravo and Ambati Rayudu and bowling 13 balls.

Kieron Pollard top-scored for the Mumbai side with his unbeaten 41-run knock while Opener Quinton de Kock scored 29. Deepak Chahar accounted for three batsmen while Shardul Thakur and Imran Tahir took two wickets each for CSK.

Australian opener Watson hit a well-calculated 80-run knock before being run out while Faf du Plessis contributed 26 runs. The pivotal point of the final, though, was a controversial run-out of MS Dhoni on 2 off 8.

Here are the statistical highlights from arguably the most entertaining IPL final so far:

  • Mumbai Indians became the first team to win four IPL titles, breaking the tie with CSK. Mumbai’s winning record in an IPL final now stands at an incredible four out of five (4-1 record in finals).

  • MI continued the trend of winning the IPL title every alternate year since 2013.
  • CSK, on the other hand, have now lost five out of their eight finals. As incredible as their record is in getting to the final, MS Dhoni’s men continue to hold the record for most defeats in the summit clashes. RCB follow suit, having lost thrice.
  • This was the second successive win for MI at Hyderabad in an IPL final and both have been by a margin of one run.

2010: MI lost to CSK by 22 runs
2013: MI beat CSK by 23 runs
2015: MI beat CSK by 41 runs
2017: MI beat Rising Pune Supergiant by 1 run
2019: MI beat CSK by 1 run

  • While MI went clear of CSK, Rohit Sharma also went clear at the top of the list of players who have won the IPL title most times. To go with the four titles he has won as the captain of MI, Rohit was also part of the title-winning team at Deccan Chargers in 2009.

  • Rohit also maintained a stunning record in tournament finals, for club and country.

  • With Mumbai’s triumph, nine of the 12 IPL finals have been won by team that won the toss.

  • For the third consecutive season, we had a final between two sides who will be meeting for the fourth time, with a 3-0 record before that. It was also only the second time in IPL history that one side managed to win all four matches played against a side. The other occasion was, of course, last year when CSK did the same to Sunrisers Hyderabad.

IPL 2017: Rising Pune Supergiants beat Mumbai Indians thrice before the final, lost in the final.

IPL 2018: Chennai Super Kings beat Sunrisers Hyderabad thrice before the final, won in the final too.

IPL 2019: Mumbai Indians beat Chennai Super Kings thrice before the final, won in the final too.

  • Ambati Rayudu’s wretched form this season meant he finished with an unwanted record.

  • Imran Tahir, who won the Purple Cap with 26 wickets, became the oldest player to ever feature in an IPL final.
  • Tahir’s tally of 26 wickets in one season is also the best ever by a spinner in the tournament’s history.

  • Birthday boy Kieron Pollard continued the trend of doing well against CSK in IPL finals.

  • Dhoni created a bit of personal history, as the wicket-keeper when he took the catch of Rohit Sharma.

  • And finally, Dhoni’s run-out was rare as it was game-changing.