Faf du Plessis struck a masterful 86 off 59 balls as the Chennai Super Kings beat the Kolkata Knight Riders by 27 runs in Dubai to claim their fourth IPL title.
Chennai posted 192-3 and then restricted Kolkata to 165-9.
Kolkata opener Venkatesh Iyer smashed a 32-ball 50 but the knock was not enough to stop Chennai’s MS Dhoni from a landmark win in his 300th match as T20 skipper.
Shardul Thakur took three wickets, including twin strikes in one over, to hurt two-time champions Kolkata who came into the final on the back of four successive wins.
Spinner Ravindra Jadeja and pace bowler Josh Hazlewood took two wickets each.
Eoin Morgan’s Kolkata won the toss and elected to field but their bowlers failed to get a wicket until the ninth over and took a hammering.
Ruturaj Gaikwad fell for 32 to off-spinner Sunil Narine but Du Plessis kept up the charge to raise his fifty with a six amid raucous support for Chennai at a nearly packed stadium.
The South African veteran smashed seven fours and three sixes and put on key partnerships with Robin Uthappa, who made 31, and Moeen Ali, who hit an unbeaten 37 off 20 balls.
Du Plessis was out on the final ball off pace bowler Shivam Mavi. Narine was Kolkata’s best bowler with figures of 2-26.
Kolkata started strongly with Iyer and Shubman Gill, who made 51, putting on a quickfire opening stand of 91.
But Chennai hit back with Thakur’s twin strikes in one over including Iyer’s key wicket as wheels came off the Kolkata chase.
Chennai, winners in 2010, 2011 and 2018, remain one of the most successful IPL franchises after five-time champions Mumbai Indians.
The trophy lift you've been waiting for ?pic.twitter.com/IMVYbrocui
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) October 15, 2021
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Photo: BCCI
