Reliving the previous nine IPL finals

2009: Deccan Chargers vs Royal Challengers Bangalore

Deccan Chargers turned the tables quite literally to win the title in 2009.

Languishing at the bottom after the end of the first IPL, the Deccan Chargers and the Royal Challengers Bangalore staged remarkable turnarounds to reach the final of the 2009 IPL. Kumble won the toss and decided to bowl first, with RCB’s record in chasing on his mind, and took the wicket of Gilchrist off the third ball itself.

Tirumalasetti Suman joined Herschelle Gibbs in the middle, but couldn’t last long. Symonds walked in, and started off briskly, was dropped by Rahul Dravid in the process, and scored a quick 33 before Kumble came back to stall the carnage. The 22-year old Rohit Sharma played himself in, even as Gibbs continued to score the odd boundary at the other end. The two took the score past 110 in the 16th over, before Kumble came back again to account for Sharma. Amidst the flow of runs, Gibbs reached his fifty and took Deccan Chargers to 143.

Starting the chase, Jack Kallis and Manish Pandey put on 20, before RP Singh got the former out bowled. With 124 needed off 99, Roelof Van der Merwe was promoted. Pragyan Ojha got the inform Manish Pandey and Merwe within the space of two overs. Dravid couldn’t last long as well, and at 79-4, their batting was crumbling. With 45 needed off 35, Symonds accounted for the dangerous looking Taylor and Kohli in two consecutive balls to keep the game interesting. With the run rate mounting, Boucher and Praveen Kumar departed in quick succession and Uthappa was left out of partners. In the end, the Royal Challengers fell short by six runs.