M.S. Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings made history by winning their third IPL after a drought of seven long years making all the fans ecstatic. MSD won the toss and put the opposition in to bat and they did come up with a par score of 178 for 6. However no one would have envisaged the manner in which the chase would unfold with the old war horse Shane Watson taking center stage to score a brilliant century, his second this season to take his team past the line with nine balls to spare.

Before the start of the tournament critics pointed out that CSK had the oldest team members in all IPL but the highest run getter for them Amabati Rayudu all of 33 continued his domination. Similarly 37 year old Shane Watson scored two centuries for CSK, Dwayne Bravo nearing his 35th birthday pulled CSK out of jail in the starting stages of the tournament with his blitzkrieg 63 off 38 balls against Mumbai Indians. Not to forget MSD himself who has scored 455 runs with a strike rate of 150 and a hefty average of 75.83.

The Chennai Super Kings did not have an easy outing considering the fact that they had to shift their home ground from Chennai to Pune after only a single game and had to shuffle their players accordingly as selections were made based on the Chennai conditions for home games. The experienced lineup adapted fast to Pune conditions and continued their good form. The team had nine uncapped players which is the most among all the teams and in further tests these newbies would be tested.

Overall, no other team in the IPL 2018 had so many challenges to face like the CSK and great credit to them for overcoming all of them to emerge champions and it would be another delight to watch Dhoni and his old war hogs defend the trophy next year as well.