IPL 2018: Man of the Match performances across a decade of IPL finals

#8 Suresh Raina (2008)

Raina has not missed a single game for the Chennai Super Kings

Chennai Super Kings took on Mumbai Indians in the final battle of the third season of the IPL. Winning the toss, MS Dhoni chose to bat first and CSK got off to a slow start. At 67/3 after 11.2 overs, they required an impetus to take them to a fighting total.

The much-needed acceleration was provided by none other than Chennai’s most dependable batsman, Suresh Raina. The left-handed batsman faced 35 balls for his unbeaten 57 runs, an innings that included three fours and as many shots over the fence.

After helping his team to a total of 168, Raina was called upon to roll his golden arm over. The 12th over of the Mumbai innings, bowled by the off-spinner, proved to be the turning point of the game as first a well-set Abhishek Nayar got run-out and then Raina trapped pinch-hitter Harbhajan Singh LBW, leaving the Mumbai boys with a tough task at hands.

Kieron Pollard’s lower order belligerence was not enough to stop the men in yellow from lifting the IPL trophy.