Having played ten seasons of IPL, CSK holds impressive records of qualifying into the playoffs every time, reaching into final eight out of ten times. But at the same time it holds scary record of loosing most of the finals it reached. CSK now have lost 5 out of 8 IPL finals having won only 3 of them, most importantly three lose came against Mumbai Indians which CSK fans obviously finds it difficult to digest. MI has won four out of their five IPL finals, all coming against Dhoni (three against CSK and one against Rising Pune Supergaint).
In this IPL 2019, MI completely dominated CSK whether in league matches or qualifier. Infact, MI were only able to beat CSK at their home not only once but twice, one in league match and another in qualifier. So, MI reached final with three wins against CSK and at the same time CSK reached final with three loses against MI. But all CSK fans were hoping that CSK can't loose four match against MI in a single season, and CSK may win the final and guess what CSK almost won the final but that last ball wicket left CSK fans with nothing but heartbreak making it fifth final loss. This loss was difficult to digest than the last four finals which CSK lost because it was so near yet so far. CSK lost just by one run. The tragedy of 2017 repeated, the only difference being it was RPS at the receiving end in 2017 and this time it was CSK.
The 2019 IPL final was actually full of drama, mistakes being committed by both team. And as MSD said at post match presentation, it was like both teams were passing trophy to one another during match by committing mistakes and allowing the opposition to make come back in the game. But CSK made more mistakes than MI did and hence paid huge price for it by rewarding trophy to MI. There were many turning points for CSK. Many says the run out of MSD or the run out of Watson but I personally feel the turning point was the wicket of Faf du Plessis. Having known that the middle order has been completely exposed this season, he should have batted long. Though CSK were in a good position at the time fall of his wicket but he was hitting the ball very well. At the same time the upcoming batsmen had been struggling throughout the season except MSD, and MSD was obviously not going to win you matches every time. But none of us thought that MSD inning would end with a run out. It was infact first run out for MSD in IPL after 2012. So nothing was going in favour of CSK except three dropped catches of Watson to keep the hope of CSK alive till the last over in the night of final. But even Watson could not take CSK over the winning line and his fabulous inning came to an end with only two balls remaining and requiring four to win. Shardul Thakur managed only two runs loosing his wickets in the ball. He was playing his only third match this season so it was not easy for him as well. I feel Jadeja could have been sent to bat before Dwayne Bravo because he had been good with the bat this season and Bravo had rarely got any chance to bat and as a result Bravo scored 15 runs of 15 balls when the required rate was almost above 11. Also, I think Imran Tahir should have been brought little earlier to bowl and should have been allowed to complete his 4 overs quota as was leading wicket taker for CSK, infact ended as leading wicket taker of this season. But now, none of these arguments matter because the fact remains that CSK lost 2019 IPL final by 1 run.
At last as a CSK fan, the only good thing about the final was Thala saying "Hopefully I will return" next year for CSK because it is difficult to imagine CSK without him and IPL without CSK.
