Shane Watson's Phenomenal Match Winning Hundred In 2018 IPL Final

A few days ago, 2018 VIVO IPL final was played on 27 May. The final was played between Chennai Super Kings and Sunrises Hyderabad. In that match Shane Watson played a phenomenal knock. He scored a wonderful hundred. Because of his hundred Chennai become champion. This is Tanim from Frenzytitans360 and today I'm going to analyze Watson's brilliant hundred.

 

 

The final of 2018 IPL was played at Wankhede, Mumbai. Chennai's captain MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to field first. Sunrises were really good with the bat. They batted very well. They scored 178/6 in 20 overs. So it was not an easy total to chase for Chennai. In a final match 179 was a difficult total to chase. The wicket was also a bit slow. And Hyderabad's bowling attack was very strong. Many teams struggled against their bowling in this IPL. To chase this kind of total Watson was the key man. Because he is very a experience. And in a big match experience becomes very handy. He is also a very stylish batsman. He's a hard and power hitting batsman. If he could play a big innings then it will be easy for the team to chase 179. And that's what exactly he did. Now let's go to the in-depth analysis of Shane Watson's wonderful innings.

 

Shane Watson retired from international cricket a few years ago. But his ability with the bat is still the same. He's still very dangerous with the bat in hand. He had a very good 2018 IPL. But before the final match he was struggling with the bat. In last 3-4 matches he did not able to play any good innings. In this match he also had a slight injury. So this final was a big challenge for him. Overcoming the odds he was at his absolute best in this match. Watson started very slowly. Two opening bowlers Bhuvneswar Kumar and Sandeep Sharama was bowling very well. Bhuvi was swinging the bowl and bowling in good areas. Sandeep was also maintaining good line and lengths. So Watson was very watchful. He opened his boundary account with a beautiful off drive through long off for four. Chennai lost their first wicket in the third over. Faf du Plessis got out. Chennai were 16/1 in after 4 overs. So they were in a pressure situation. Raina came to bat at no. 3. Watson was 5 from 13 balls. But he had the ability to catch up letter. And that's what he did in the 6th over. In that over's 3rd ball Sandeep bowled a short bowl and Watson played a wonderful pool shot over deep mid wicket to hit his first maximum. In the next delivery he smashed the ball through long off for four. So in that over Watson unleashed his power game. Then in the next over he played an amazing lofted flick over square leg for his 2nd six. In the 9th over he again hit a six against the bowling of Kaul. This time he hit it over long on. So he was really attacking the bowlers. In the same over he picked up his 3rd four. Chennai scored 80 runs In 10 overs. So they were on top. In the first ball of the 11th over Shakib bowled a half tracker and Watson lofted the ball over deep square leg for his 4th maximum of the innings. With that six he reached to his fifty from 33 balls.

 

After scoring fifty Watson became more dangerous. Because of his attacking batting Chennai were right back in the match. He hit his 4th four with a nice pool shot through mid wicket. But his real action of the innings was the 13th over. In the 13th over Watson scored 26 runs. Sandeep Sharma bowled that over. 2nd ball of that over Sandeep bowled a low full toss outside the off stump and he hit the ball over extra cover for four. In the next ball he played an extraordinary shot. He fetched the ball from way out outside of off stump and lofting it over long on for the maximum. It was just the power of his shoulder. Next delivery Sandeep bowled a low full toss and Watson hit a colossal six over cow-corner. The ball traveled 89 meters into the crowd. Sandeep bowled a length delivery in the next ball and he again hit it for six over Long on. That was his 7th maximum. Last ball of that over Sandeep bowled a wide yorker and Watson just placed the ball between short third man and point fielder to pick up his 6th four. It was just stand and deliver from him. It was a match deciding over for Chennai. After that over they needed 48 runs from 42 balls. So the task was very easy for them. In the next over he played a tremendous pool shot over deep mid wicket for his 8th and last six of the innings. In the 17th over Watson reached to his hundred from 51 balls. In that over he played a nice scoop shot against Rashid Khan. He again hit a four in the same over. In the next over he smashed the ball through long off for four. Next ball he played a nice straight drive for his 11th four of the innings. Chennai Super kings won the match by 8 wickets and 9 balls remaining. Shane Watson remained unbeaten scoring 117 runs from 57 balls. He hit 11 fours and 8 sixes. He scored 117 runs with an excellent strike rate of 205.26.

 

This was Watson's 2nd hundred in IPL 2018. Before he scored a hundred against Rajasthan Royals. But this hundred was very special because he scored it in the final. He became the 2nd batsman to score hundred in IPL final. Wriddhiman Saha was the first batsman to score hundred in IPL final which he did in 2014 IPL. But his team did not win the match. But Chennai Super kings won their 3rd IPL title because of Watson's hundred. They won the match very comfortably which seem to be a difficult run chase. Watson was just absolutely brilliant in this match. He played fearless cricket. He did not take any pressure on him. He was absolutely unstoppable. It was nightmare for the sunrises bowlers. Nothing worked against him. Even Rashid Khan was ineffective against him. Watson batted with lot of power. He really strike the ball cleanly and also with lot of power. His timing was brilliant. He also found sweet part of the bat almost every time. He scored most of his runs in the leg side and in the V. He played some lovely pool shots. He also played some beautiful drives through long off and straight boundary. He played those lofted shots with great power. Watson really entertained the Wankhede crowd. Specially the Chennai supporters really enjoyed his knock. It will go down as one of the best knocks in the history of IPL.