JOIN USSuper Kings lord over Africa
Vijay (58 off 53 balls), who was let off when on 34, cracked his third half century of the tournament while his opening partner Hussey played sheet anchor and remained not out on 51 as Chennai chased down the small target of 129 with one over to spare.
Earlier, spinners Muttiah Muralitharan (3/16) and R Ashwin (2/16) shared five wickets as Chennai restricted Warriors to 128 for seven after the South African champion side had elected to bat at the New Wanderers Stadium.
Vijay underlined his emergence as a fine Twenty20 batsman by becoming the highest run getter of the tournament with 294 runs from six matches, eight more than Warriors captain Davy Jacobs. Vijay thus won the Golden Bat award.
Vijay’s 53-ball innings was studded with six fours and two sixes while Hussey hit only three fours from 46 balls in his unbeaten knock.
CSK were richer by $2.5 million for winning the second edition of the tournament, their second crown in five months after their IPL triumph in April. Warriors received $1.3 million for finishing runners-up.
The grand finale of the multi-dollar tournament, however, turned out to be a lopsided match with the Warriors bowlers failing to make any impact on CSK batsmen, who had beaten them in their last Group A league fixture four days ago.
The total of 128 was too small to defend and Chennai was always in control of the run chase though it got a bit tight with Suresh Raina, who was mainly responsible for CSK’s semifinal win against Royal Challengers Bangalore with an aggressive 94, out cheaply for just two.
Hussey and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (17 not out), however, held on their nerves to pull off the win with a 25-run partnership for the unbroken third wicket.
Dhoni hit the winning runs -- a four off Juan Theron -- as Chennai scored 132 for two in 19 overs to lift the title.
Vijay and Hussey did not need to take too much risk as they ran mostly in singles in their 103-run opening wicket stand in front of a capacity crowd.
Vijay lived dangerously on a couple of occasions with an edge from his bat flying past wicketkepeer Mark Boucher and Justin Kreusch for a four. He was also lucky to survive in the ninth over with wicketkeeper Mark Boucher missing a simple stumping chance off the bowling of Nicky Boje when on 34.
But he made amends of these lapses later as he struck some fine shots, including two sixes off Nicky Boje.
Vijay fell to Boje in the 15th over after taking his side to the threshold of victory.
Earlier, Muralitharan snapped three wickets as Chennai Super Kings restricted Warriors to 128 for seven.
Muralitharan, who took three for 16, got able support from his spin colleague Ashwin (2/16) as CSK restricted the Warriors to a meager total. Pacers Dough Bollinger and Albie Morkel bagged a wicket each while Laxmipathi Balaji was unsuccessful. Ashwin ended as tournament highest wicket taker with 13 from six matches, winning the man of the tournament award as well.
Score Board
Warriors: Davy Jacobs lbw Ashwin 34, Ashwell Prince b Bollinger 6, Colin Ingram c Raina b Morkel 16, Justin Kreusch c Raina b Muralitharan 17, Mark Boucher b Muralitharan 5, Johan Botha c Anirudha b Ashwin 7, Craig Thyssen c Anirudha b Muralitharan 25, Nicky Boje (not out) 8, Rusty Theron (not out) 2. Extras (lb-4, W-4) 8. Total (for 7 wkts, 20 overs) 128.
Fall of wickets: 1-39, 2-45, 3-73, 4-81, 5-82, 6-111, 7-125. Bowling: Doug Bollinger 4-0-33-1, Albie Morkel 4-0-31-1, R Ashwin 4-0-16-2, Lakshmipathi Balaji 4-0-28-0, Muttiah Muralitharan 4-0-16-3.
Chennai Super Kings: Michael Hussey (not out) 51, Murali Vijay c Kreusch b Boje 58, Suresh Raina c Botha b Ntini 2, MS Dhoni (not out) 17, Extras (lb-1, W-3) 4. Total (for 2 wkts, 19 overs) 132.
Fall of wickets: 1-103, 2-107. Bowling: Makhaya Ntini 4-0-30-1, Lonwabo Tsotsobe 3-0-14-0, Rusty Theron 4-0-40-0, Johan Botha 4-0-18-0, Nicky Boje 4-0-29-1.