Rajasthan Royals’ victory in the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League is one of cricket’s great underdog stories. Heading into the T20 tournament as the least expensive team, Shane Warne and Co managed to script history with one gritty performance after another.
Not many fancied the Royals to go all the way in IPL 2008. They had a legend in Warne as captain, but the rest of their squad was relatively inexperienced compared to the other seven teams participating. Even so, they found the right balance in their playing XI and were solid from start to finish. They topped the group with 11 wins from 14 games and stormed past Delhi Daredevils in the semi-finals.
In the summit clash, they were up against Chennai Super Kings – a team that had defeated Kings XI Punjab in the other semi-final and was led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Rajasthan won the toss and elected to field first in the final at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. Suresh Raina top-scored with 43 runs, with Dhoni remaining not-out on 29, as CSK fought their way to 163/5 in 20 overs on a two-paced pitch.
In reply, the Royals found themselves in trouble as they were reduced to 42/3 in 6.4 overs. But Shane Watson and Yusuf Pathan then got together to add a crucial partnership of 65 runs. CSK then managed to pick four wickets for 36 runs, with Muttiah Muralitharan picking two, leaving Rajasthan with 21 runs to get off 14 balls with three wickets in hand.
The match looked to be in Chennai’s favour as South Africa pacer Makhaya Ntini gave away just six runs off the first five deliveries in the penultimate over. But Warne brought his team right back into the contest by hitting a four off the last ball.
With eight runs to get from the final over, the first season of the IPL headed towards a dream, nail-biting finish. Lakshmipathy Balaji then did well to give away just two runs off the first three balls of the 20th over, but he conceded two wides after that to put RR back on top. With one run needed off the last delivery, Sohail Tanvir managed to connect a pull-shot and hand Rajasthan a famous victory.
Pathan was declared the player of the match for his all-round contribution of three wickets and 56 runs. While Shane Watson won the player of the tournament award for picking 17 wickets and scoring 474 runs.
“I don’t think there’s been too many better teams that I’ve played in during my career,” Warne said after the match. “It’s been a fantastic journey. We gelled together really quickly. It makes me proud to see so many young guys learning and executing their skills in the middle. I think the crowds all over India made the atmosphere amazing. It’s been a wonderful ride for us.”
Watch highlights of the IPL 2008 final here: