5 Best Batting Performances In IPL Finals

#1- Shane Watson vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (2018)- 117*(57)

Watson was the lynchpin for CSK in the most crucial game scoring 117 runs

In May 2018, Chennai Super Kings won their third IPL title by beating the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the finals. Chennai's strength had been their new look openers: Ambati Rayudu and Shane Watson.

While Rayudu finished a stellar season with 602 runs, Watson scored 555 runs for the team which included two centuries

In the finals, Kane Williamson and Yusuf Pathan played good knocks as the Sunrisers Hyderabad posted 181 which was more than enough for a champion bowling side, or so it seemed. For CSK, Watson opened the innings along with South African skipper Faf Du Plessis.

Bhuvi bowled a beautiful first over to Watson which did not yield any runs for CSK. Du Plessis tried to accelerate the run rate by hitting a couple of boundaries off hapless Sandeep Sharma, but Watson played out too many dot balls and the pressure rolled on to Faf, who perished while attempting to play a big shot.

Watson broke his streak of dot balls with a couple of boundaries off Siddharth Kaul. Both, Suresh Raina and Watson, played Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Rashid Khan with caution, but scored took off other bowlers.

In the 13th over, Watson slammed Sandeep for three consecutive sixes and one four as that over yielded 25 runs. He raced to his century off 51 balls. At the start of his innings, he was at 19 runs off 19 balls, which meant that he scored a phenomenal 81 runs more off just 32 balls.

After Raina's departure, his shots began to become more powerful and Rayudu just gave the strike to Watson and soon enough, he finished the game with 9 balls to spare. Watson finished off with 117 runs off 57 balls.

Chennai Super Kings won the match comprehensively completely on the back of Watto's excellent innings. He held his nerve during the pressure situation and won the game for CSK. Sunrisers, who had a brilliant campaign, lost all their 4 games to CSK.

Watson was rightly adjudged the Man of the Match for his stellar innings and will be a player to watch out for in the upcoming season.