Good ol' Warne sledge and a frenzied finale

In this new Cricbuzz series - Once upon an IPL final - we get some of the younger cricketers to retell tales of an IPL final they were part of. Here we have Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan reliving Chennai Super Kings' first brush with a final in 2008.

In my first IPL match, I had scored 57. At that time, I was feeling ready to conquer the world. That kind of a feeling wasn't there when I was playing the final though. My mind was still stuck on the shot I had played in the semifinal to get out. I felt that I had missed a big opportunity and I had to make up for it. By the time I could realise that I was in the final, I was already taking guard and ready to face the first ball.

It's not that I was consciously thinking about the previous game, but it was subconsciously running in my mind. The good thing about the Australians is that they pick your body language well. The moment Shane Warne and Shane Watson got to know that I was not a hundred percent in the game, they came and pounced at me with a few four-letter words. Since I had taken a few balls to get off the mark, Warne came up and asked me, "Have you come to take the shine off the new ball?" He made sure I heard it when the umpires weren't there. It didn't add pressure on me. But it made me realise that I was still thinking about yesterday.

Chennai Super Kings had played the semifinal (against Kings XI Punjab at Wankhede Stadium) and the final (against Rajasthan Royals at DY Patil Stadium) on back-to-back days.

Having returned to our team hotel around 1 AM after the semifinal, we woke up late on the final day. By the time we had our breakfast, went to the pool to recuperate and had a small team meeting, it was already time for us to leave for the final. I had woken up grumpy, and even at the breakfast table my mind was still stuck on the shot I had played against Punjab (a poorly timed pull off Irfan Pathan which took the top edge of the bat and went to the fielder at mid wicket). We were chasing 113 for a win, I got a good start but threw my wicket away. My wife, who was with me at breakfast didn't know what to tell me. We were newly married and were still getting to know each other. The good thing was that she has also played sports (national level juniors), so she understood the space I needed at that time. She was around but didn't speak much.

At the team meeting, our owner came and told us that he was proud of our performance and will do support us irrespective of the result in the final, and also promised to double our prize money. It was wonderful on N Srinivasan's part to let us know that we had his backing. That made a huge difference. Rahul Dravid has made a beautiful point recently on Cricbuzz where he said why CSK have understood the dynamics of IPL so well, of keeping the team together, and succeeded. That's been the case since the first season.

We had to pack our bags and leave for the game at 4 PM since DY Patil was a two-hour drive from our team hotel. It was good in a way that we didn't get much time to think about the final but a bit of time to recharge our batteries would have been good. Maybe, it would have allowed me some time as well to get over my disappointment. But before all that could happen, the toss was done and we were ready to play.

Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals played the maiden IPL final

It's interesting how Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings had reached the final. We didn't have the best teams on paper, Deccan Chargers did. That just reinforces how important a leader is. Both Shane Warne and MS Dhoni were exceptional. It was a long tournament. When the tournament had started, nobody knew what to expect. After a time, everyone realised that you need local players to perform, you can't just rely on your international stars. What Warne did with the likes of Swapnil Asnodkar, Yusuf Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja, Dhoni did something similar with Manpreet Gony, Badrinath and me.

Midway through the season, we had lost some big players - Hayden and Hussey, who went off to play the Ashes. The two had contributed immensely in the first few games. It is to Dhoni's credit of how well we gelled even after losing such big players. He never imposed himself. He let everyone feel important. He allowed us to be ourselves rather than coming and telling us what to do. He didn't make us feel overawed. He didn't make us feel that we are playing a big final.

Apart from the captain and the coach, the others chipped in too. There was an incident when I got out playing a pull shot to Glenn McGrath. Stephen Fleming had noticed that and told me that McGrath will try doing the same again and asked me to play pull shots to him off the front foot. He took me to the nets and chucked 50 to 100 balls at me to prepare for that. And as it turned out, McGrath started out with two short deliveries (off the first three balls) at me and I pulled both for boundaries. He had been an exceptional captain for New Zealand but now here he had taken the effort to not only tell me what to do but also help me prepare for it.

CSK were put in to bat: Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan opened the innings with Parthiv Patel

We didn't get any time to practice before the final. So when the closing ceremony was going on before the final, it gave us time to warm-up, to get an understanding of what we wanted, remind ourselves of what we were there for and what our roles were in the team. It gave us time to get better prepared for the match.

I was visualising in the dressing room - it helps me. Not that it guarantees big runs, but it makes me more confident. I knew what my role was, so did Parthiv Patel, who was facing the first ball. His role was to get the odd boundary, but largely rotate the strike. And my job was to go after the bowlers. We didn't have to chat much since we knew each other's part.

I took a few balls to get going. The last time we had faced Rajasthan Royals, we were 5 for 3. Not that it was playing on our minds, but both Shane Watson and Sohail Tanvir were bowling well. Tanvir was in good form and so was Watson, who was young, accurate and bowling at 140 clicks. We saw through their first spell without losing a wicket.

I got a good start but fell to Yusuf Pathan. I could've easily contributed a lot more. I didn't have the understanding of the game at that point, the format was very new. So I used to go after the bowlers with hard hands when I could've easily relied on timing. That kind of maturity wasn't there at that time. It is a learning exercise now, but back then I was disappointed.

We felt 163 was a good score. It wasn't a completely flat wicket. There was something in it for the bowlers. Also, Dhoni is not someone who plans too much, he just goes by his instincts. It is good in a way because if you plan too much and it doesn't go your way, then you don't want to be stuck.

We never felt that we were out of the game, even in the final over when they needed 8 with Warne and Tanvir batting. Back then, that required rate was challenging. The match went down to the final ball, which shows how close we were. If we would've been marginally better in certain parts, we could've won.

After the game, Dhoni got us into a huddle and asked us to leave with our heads held high. After the game, we didn't have much time to think about the loss as we had a flight to catch the next day. We felt very bad that we let the opportunity slip but there was no remorse or anger. We handled the defeat well. The good thing is that the owners are understanding of what a sportsman goes through. We were made to feel one.

As told to Aayush Puthran

Also read:The fascinating story of a champions t-shirt printed even before an IPL final