"Shane-sational": Summing up the herculean effort of the Aussie that resulted in CSK's title triumph
"Shane-sational!!" read the giant display screen at Wankhede, as Shane Watson smoked the ball over midwicket, his first six of the game. As he sent bowler Siddharth Kaul packing with another biggie over long-on, later in the same over, it was definitely a sign of things to come. By the end of it all, Chennai Super Kings had completed their fairytale run in the tournament, clinching the IPL title for the third time, and the burly Australian was at the heart of it all.
As mentioned, this season of CSK can be described only as straight out of a movie. Returning from a two-year suspension, the IPL scenes could have looked strange and unfamiliar, considering how much it had changed in the interim. And in all justice, the Rajasthan Royals were coming back too, in a similar fashion. However, that factor has proved to be the only similarity between the two teams, as the Men in Yellow stood tall at the end of the tournament, matching former champions Mumbai Indians in the number of IPL titles won.
As Shane Watson hogs most of the limelight right now, it's time to do a small throwback session to a Thursday a few months ago. Having bought him for four times his base price of INR 1 cr, it looked like CSK were never in doubt of Watto's abilities. But quite frankly, the rest of the world had a different opinion. He underperformed for the Royal Challengers Bangalore last season and was not deemed a decent choice. Still, hopes of an occasional "Shane-storm" kept him in the eleven, and that is exactly what he delivered - a ton against Rajasthan and a 40-ball-78 against Delhi. In all the other matches he had been relatively silent.
Being the "batting-allrounder" he attributes himself to, Watson quite notably featured more with the ball than with the bat, except on the two occasions mentioned above. He still features all-time second in the number of IPL hundreds, having scored four of them till date, in par with Indian and RCB teams' captain Virat Kohli, and two short of the man himself, Chris Gayle.
All that being said, the IPL final of this season would definitely go into Watson's career as the most important knock he has played in his lifetime. The chief architect of CSK's comprehensive victory scored his second hundred of the season, to help the Chennai franchise chase down 179 with nine balls to spare. Here we try to analyze how well-orchestrated, and perfectly planned the innings was.
In a tense chase, Watson began by playing out 10 dot balls. What was the slow start all about? Watson took the strike in the first over, against Bhuvneshwar Kumar having earned quite a notorious name of getting deceived by SRH's bowling linchpin, who can swing the ball both ways. Alternatively, Watson has also been dismissed cheaply on at least five occasions this IPL, courtesy of the swinging new-ball. One could say that this slow-start was hence pre-meditated, in an effort to consolidate himself on the crease before launching the attack. The end justified the means, after all.
His early misery did not end even after playing out a maiden in the Bhuvi over. He was kept scoreless for another four deliveries before Sandeep Sharma offered a regulation half-volley for Watson to drive forward, to get off the mark with a four. He followed it up with a couple of sixes in the next over by Kaul, and suddenly he was game-ready. By the time the storm died down, the best bowling side of this IPL looked like a pale shadow of itself.
The innings was a trademark Watson special. There were the routine smashes over deep mid-wicket for six, the pile-drivers down the ground, kneeling down and swatting the ball away for more biggies, and so on, but Watson arguably played the best over of this IPL when he literally devoured Sandeep Sharma in the 13th over of the chase, which effectively shocked SRH to their very core.
CSK needed 75 from 48 when Sandeep came back for his final over. Incidentally, the over began with a dot ball. That was probably Watson's idea of showing respect before issuing carnage all over. The next ball was a low full-toss that was crashed over extra cover for four.
Sandeep returned with a well-disguised slower-ball that Watson simply towed into the crowd behind the long-on fence. Sandeep was rattled by then, as evident from the low full-toss on the leg side he followed it up with - a big mistake, as Watson simply had to time it well into the mid-wicket stands. Next, a length ball - clobbered over long-on.
Quite notably, Sandeep bowled a wide-yorker to finish, which Watson simply squeezed into the space between short third-man and backward point. He was carrying a hamstring niggle by then, and so didn't push himself to run. He still got 27 runs through sheer power, and from then on, it was just formal proceedings for CSK.
Six balls later, he cantered to a century, to raucous applause from the Wankhede Stadium. Even MS Dhoni was on his feet clapping, and that indeed says a lot about how important the knock was. And yet Watson did not stop. He went on to score 117 off 57 after bringing his hundred in 51 balls - a strike rate of 320 after he reached triple figures.
There is no "form" for Shane Watson. There is only "his day" and "not his day", the former being much rarer than the latter. The Sunday of May 27th, however, turned out to be his day, probably the biggest of his days, and he turned tables on everyone who called his pick as strange.
Unsurprisingly, "Watto" is hardly as popular as the other match-winners that he is compared to by the commentators. It is time that we give the 37-year old enough credit for what he has done to Dhoni's team, and also to hope that he continues to do so in the coming seasons as well.