Chennai Super Kings are first IPL side to win Champions League T20

The Chennai Super Kings became the first Indian Premier League (IPL) team to win the Champions League Twenty20 tournament when they brushed aside the Eastern Cape Warriors by eight wickets in the final at the Wanderers on Sunday.

Chasing a paltry 129 for victory, Super Kings openers Michael Hussey and Murali Vijay put on 103 runs without taking any risks. Vijay scored 58 runs and was adjudged Man of the Match while Hussey remained not out with 51.

The victory, however, was set up by the IPL champions' spinners. Ravichandran Ashwin and Muttiah Muralitharan restricted the Warriors to 128 for seven in 20 overs after the South African side's captain Davy Jacobs won the toss and elected to take first strike.

Muralitharan, who took three for 16, got able support from Ashwin (2/16) as the Super Kings restricted the Warriors to a meagre total after Jacobs had given them a rollicking start.

Pace bowlers Doug Bollinger and Albie Morkel bagged a wicket apiece while Laxmipathy Balaji went wicketless.

The Kings won a $2.5 million jackpot and completed a notable double after they won the IPL earlier this year. The Warriors won $1.3 million.

Captain and opener Jacobs (34) continued with his terrific form in the tournament with some lusty strokes and his side looked set to post a big total by racing to 39 runs at the end of the fourth over.

Jacobs treated Super Kings opening bowler Bollinger with disdain, hitting him for two consecutive fours and another two boundaries in the Australian's second over, to get the Warriors off  to a flier.

Jacobs also gave the same rough treatment to Morkel, hitting him for three fours.

The other opening batsman Ashwell Prince, however, continued to struggle and was out to Bollinger for a mere six.

Super Kings skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's shrewd move to introduce off-spinner Ashwin then paid dividends. Ashwin removed the dangerous Jacobs in the sixth over as the IPL side put the brakes on the South African champion team.

Jacobs's aggressive 34 came off 21 balls and was studded with eight fours.

The run rate slowed down with the introduction of Balaji, who got a bit of swing at the Wanderers, and spin wizard Muralitharan as the Warriors could score just 19 runs from the four overs from the seventh to the tenth.

Colin Ingram (16) fell to Morkel in the 11th over while trying to push up the run rate before Muralitharan put the Warriors in trouble by claiming two wickets in the 14th over.

Veteran Mark Boucher (5) was deceived by a beautiful Murali delivery which got the turn to beat the batsman's bat before crashing into the stumps.

Four balls later, Justin Kreusch (17) charged out to hit a Muralitharan delivery only to chip it to Suresh Raina at mid-wicket. Warriors were 82 for five then.

In the 17th over, sent down by Balaji, Craig Thyssen plundered 18 runs with the help of a six and a four, but any threat of a slog-overs run riot was cut short with Ashwin snapping up Johan Botha's wicket.

Thyssen was the only other Warriors batsman besides Jacobs to provide some resistance with an 18-ball 25 which he made with the help of three fours and a six. He was out in the last over.

Scores:
Eastern Cape Warriors
D Jacobs lbw b Ashwin 34; A Prince b Bollinger 6; C Ingram c Raina b Morkel 16; J Kreusch c Raina b Muralitharan 17; M Boucher b Muralitharan 5; J Botha c Srikkanth b Ashwin 7; C Thyssen c Srikkanth b Muralitharan 25; N Boje not out 8; J Theron not out 2; Extras (lb4, w4) 8
Total (7 wkts, 20 overs) 128
Fall of wickets: 1-39 (Prince), 2-45 (Jacobs), 3-73 (Ingram), 4-81 (Boucher), 5-82 (Kreusch), 6-111 (Botha), 7/125 (Thyssen)
Did not bat: M Ntini, L Tsotsobe
Bowling: Bollinger 4-0-33-1, Morkel 4-0-31-1 (2w), Ashwin 4-0-16-2 (1w), Balaji 4-0-28-0 (1w), Muralitharan 4-0-16-3

Chennai Super Kings
M Hussey not out  51; M Vijay c Kreusch b Boje 58; S Raina c Botha b Ntini 2; MS Dhoni not out  17; Extras (lb1, w3) 4
Total (2 wkts, 19 overs) 132
Fall of wickets: 1-103 (Vijay), 2-107 (Raina)
Did not bat: S Badrinath, A Srikkanth, A Morkel, R Ashwin, L Balaji, D Bollinger, M Muralitharan
Bowling: Ntini 4-0-30-1 (1w), Tsotsobe 3-0-14-0, Theron 4-0-40-0 (2w), Botha 4-0-18-0, Boje 4-0-29-1