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Mumbai:- Shane Watson struck an unbeaten 117 off 57 balls as Chennai Super Kings beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets in the Indian Premier League final.
The Australian, who did not score off his first 10 deliveries, hit 11 fours and eight sixes as Super Kings reached a target of 179 with nine balls left.
Kane Williamson, the tournament’s leading run-scorer, made 47 in Sunrisers’ 178-6 in Mumbai.
Victory gave Super Kings a record third IPL title.
They returned to the tournament this season after a two-year ban for their part in a corruption scandal.
“To do it in such a big game that means so much to the franchise is pretty special,” said 36-year-old Watson, who was unable to run more than singles for much of his innings because of a hamstring injury.
“Towards the back end of the tournament I was hanging on for dear life.”
The IPL is the most lucrative domestic cricket competition in the world, after Star India paid £1.97bn for the television rights for five years starting this season.
Chennai also won the competition in 2010 and 2011 and were runners-up in 2008, 2012, 2013 and 2015.
Sunrisers finished top of the IPL table, although they lost four times to Chennai.
This year’s tournament, which started on 7 April, featured a record 12 English players, although none appeared in the final.
Sam Billings played 10 matches for Super Kings and David Willey three, while Alex Hales played six games for Sunrisers.