Mumbai Indians gave Sachin Tendulkar's T20 career a fitting farewell, notching a comprehensive 33-run victory over Rajasthan Royals and clinching the Champions League Twenty20 title on Sunday night.
This is the second CLT20 title for the IPL-6 winners, having won the 2011 edition.
Chasing a massive 203-run target, Royals folded for 169 even after a fabulous start that saw them score 100 runs in nine overs.
Tendulkar and Royals skipper Rahul Dravid, who both announced that the tournament's final would be their last T20 match, were out for low scores.
Despite openers Ajinkya Rahane (65) and Sanju Samson (60) chipping in with quickfire half-centuries, Mumbai Indians' bowlers came up with impressive performances towards the fag end of the innings to have the last laugh.
India discard Harbhajan Singh finished with impressive 4-0-32-4; he claimed three wickets in one over, which proved the turning point of the match.
Kieron Pollard chipped in with three wickets for 31.
From 155 for three in 16 overs, Royals collapsed dramatically, losing as many as six wickets for just 14 runs.
Earlier, Mumbai Indians' batsmen fired in unison to post 202 for six.
After a solid start by opener Dwayne Smith (44), and a valuable 33 off 14 balls by skipper Rohit Sharma in the middle, Glenn Maxwell's 14-ball 37 cameo in the end took the IPL champions past the 200-run mark, 142 runs coming in the last 10 overs.
This was Mumbai Indians' highest total in Champions League Twenty20.
Royals made their intentions clear from the beginning. Dravid took a more logical stance by not coming to bat in the top order, which has been his usual position in T20, in what was an emotional farewell for him in competitive cricket.
But the move, unfortunately, did not pay expected dividends in the end.
Having begun by hitting two fours in the very first over of their innings, opener Kushal Perera perished for eight. But Rahane and Samson took off from the word go, the latter being the more dominating of the two, who put on a solid 109-run stand for the second wicket in just 67 balls.
Samson chose Harbhajan for special treatment, extracting 16 runs from his over and set the ball rolling. He and Rahane stole another 14 runs in the next over. Samson was unstoppable as he hit Nathan Coulter-Nile for 17 runs to enable Royals register their fifty off just 4.3 overs.
The duo went on punishing the bowlers for anything short and the hundred came in the ninth over.
There was a golden chance to claim Samson's wicket, when he was on 53, but Glenn Maxwell dropped him off Coulter-Nile's bowling.
Pragyan Ojha gave Mumbai Indians the breakthrough, taking the wicket of Samson, with Harbhajan taking a good catch at short third man.
Samson departed for a 33-ball 66, studded with four fours and an equal number of sixes.
Rahane, meanwhile, continued to go for his shots, with Shane Watson at the other end. But Watson's departure resulted in the run-rate dipping. Even as Rahane and Binny tried hitting every ball, pressure got the better of them and Harbhajan saw off Rahane, with Smith taking a simple catch on the boundary, before bowling Binny for 10.
Surprisingly Dravid, who came in at No 8 in the batting order, was out for just one. Thereafter, it was just a matter of time before the Royals innings folded in 18.5 overs.
Earlier, it was a team effort by the Mumbai batsmen. Besides other important partnerships, Maxwell added adding 41 runs for the sixth wicket with Dinesh Karthik (15 not out) in 2.2 overs towards the fag end.
For the Royals, Pravin Tambe was the only impressive bowler, with figures of 4-0-19-2.
Put in to bat by Rajasthan Royals, the in-form opener Smith gave Mumbai Indians a perfect start, hitting a six over deep mid-wicket off the third ball of the first over to set the tone.
The other opener, Tendulkar, who was playing his final Twenty20 match, took an over to settle down before he opened up. He started off with a four in James Faulkner's over, a perfectly timed cover drive.
The 40-year-old right-hand batsman then followed it up with two successive boundaries off the first two deliveries of Shane Watson's over before the ball crashed into his off-stump, cutting short his innings. He scored a 13-ball 15, including three hits to the fence.
Even as the senior batsman walked back into the pavilion in coloured clothes for one last time, his teammates and the full house crowd at the Feroze Shah Kotla here gave him a standing ovation.
Tendulkar's departure slowed down the momentum a bit, with Ambati Rayudu adopting a cautious approach, relying mostly on singles and twos.
Despite that Mumbai Indians managed to bring up their fifty in 6.5 overs, a decent run-rate.
The 41-year-old leg-spinner Tambe, who emerged the surprise package of Champion League T20, put the breaks on Mumbai's scoring. The boundaries suddenly dried up and Mumbai crawled to 60 at the half-way stage. After hitting a boundary in the fifth over, they failed to score any more four in the next five overs. They scored just nine runs from three overs.
But once Shane Watson came back for his second spell, Smith chose to launch his attack again, smashing three boundaries around the park off the first three balls of the over to steal 15 runs.
Tambe, however, bowled Smith in the next over for a well-made 44 off 39 balls, with the help of five fours and a six.
Rayudu continued in the able company of Rohit, who continued to display his fine form after joining his partner in the middle. Both the batsmen picked momentum again.
In Stuart Binny's over, the duo snatched 16 runs, hitting two fours and a six to release the pressure.
Mumbai's 100 came in 13.1 overs when Rayudu hit a four off Tambe, lofting it over the bowler's head.
But Tambe, who had a dream run in the competition, saw him off with the third ball of the same over.
Rayudu scored a 24-ball 29, studded with four hits to the fence.
Hard-hitting Kieron Pollard, who joined Rohit, wasted no time and the two batsmen straightaway got down to business.
Firing on all cylinders, the duo scored 15 runs in Rahul Shukla's over before punishing Cooper for 20 runs, as both Pollard and Rohit hit a six each in his over.
It was Faulkner, who hit the leg stump of dangerman Pollard to get him out.
Maxwell, who replaced Mitchell Johnson in this game, began with a four and a six and then topped it up with 20 runs in Shukla's over.
Despite Rohit departing off the first ball of Shukla's over, Maxwell hit the bowler for two sixes and a four. He and Karthik then kept on punishing the bowlers to take Mumbai to a huge total.
While Rohit hit three fours and two sixes, Maxwell chipped in with four boundaries and two sixes.
Image: Mumbai Indians players celebrate the victory
Photo: BCCI
