IPL 2019: How Rohit Sharma's bold decision helped Mumbai Indians lift the trophy

On 12th May Chennai Super Kings met Mumbai Indians in the finals of IPL 2019. After winning the toss, Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma decided to bat first. And his decision seemed correct too when Mumbai raced away to 45 runs off just 4.4 overs.

But Shardul Thakur drew the first blood for CSK in the 5th over by sending back the in-form Quinton de Kock. The next over witnessed Rohit getting out too, to a knuckle-ball from Deepak Chahar.

Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan built a steady partnership which was broken by Imran Tahir in his first over. Dhoni brought Thakur again into the attack and he repaid the captain's faith by sending back Krunal Pandya in that over.

Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard contributed some handy runs towards the end of the innings to help Mumbai post a decent 149 on board.

Coming out to bat chasing 150, the Super Kings too got a quick start as Faf du Plessis scored a four, six and four off consecutive deliveries inKrunal Pandya's fourth over. But Pandya had the last laugh as he got the wicket of Du Plessis in the last ball of that over.

The run-rate came down when Suresh Raina and Shane Watson got together at the crease. The two consumed a lot of balls en route building a partnership in the middle overs. Rahul Chahar eventually got the better of Raina in the 10th over and MS Dhoni came to the crease.

The next over bowled by Hardik Pandya produced the biggest controversy of the match, as Dhoni was given run-out off a direct throw from Ishan Kishan. While one angle showed him being short of the crease, another angle showed him just crossing the line. Eventually the umpires adjudged him out and CSK were left reeling at 82/4 after 13 overs.

The equation came down to 62 runs required off 30 balls for CSK, but the 16th over bowled by Lasith Malinga produced 20 runs including 3 fours and a six. That was followed by an excellent 4-run over by Jasprit Bumrah .

Rohit took a gamble by giving the ball to Krunal Pandya in the 18th over, and it didn't work. Watson hit three consecutive sixes off his over and brought the equation down to 18 off 12 balls.

Bumrah got a much-needed breakthrough by getting Dwayne Bravo out in the next over, and the match came down to the 20th over with 9 runs required off the last 6 balls. With Watson and Ravindra Jadeja at the crease, it was expected to be a cake-walk for CSK.

Very few captains other than Rohit would have decided to give the ball to Malinga at that stage. The batsmen at the crease had hit him for three consecutive boundaries in the previous over; besides, Hardik had three overs left, and had given just three runs in his only over.

But Rohit believed in the experience of Malinga, and that paid dividends for Mumbai.

The first ball was a yorker which Watson could only drive to long-off. Malinga then delivered a low full toss which produced just a single again. The third ball was a low full toss dipping into the leg stump, and Watson could manage only a couple more.

Malinga then bowled a wide yorker which saw Watson being run-out trying for a double. The 5th ball was a full toss on the pads which Thakur managed to run two runs off.

With two runs required off the final ball, Malinga bowled another dipping yorker which trapped Thakur leg-before wicket.

It was Rohit's bold decision to give the ball to their most experienced bowler that changed the course of the game and helped Mumbai become the champions of IPL 2019.