Chennai was the best team and are the deserving winners

50 days of non-stop cricket, mixed with hard work, training and travelling has finally come to an end. But the most unfortunate part is that we didn’t achieve what we would like to have in terms of results. It was 'so near but yet so far' kind of feeling for the Mumbai Indians and we don’t have anyone to blame but ourselves.

We started the tournament in an emphatic manner and played some really good cricket. Our batting looked good, bowling was sharp and fielding was brilliant. Our all the departments were absolutely in sync with each other and responded well to the given challenges and opportunities. We had lot of confidence and there was no dearth of self-belief in the dressing room.

The secret of CSK's success

But just when everything was going right for us, the game against Kings Eleven Punjab at Mohali made the equation topsy-turvy. It was the game which we should have won but that wasn’t the case. Personally speaking that was where we lost our momentum.

In a format like T20 it's very important to keep the good work going and not to allow anything to derail it. May be we peaked a little too early and didn’t play well enough when it matter the most to us. In a long league like this, you can afford to play badly in the first few games and then get your game going at the right time to pick the trophy.

Suddenly, our batters lost the touch and we didn't get the right formula to set or chase the target. The last game against Royal Challengers Bangalore was played on a very different Chepauk wicket. It wasn’t a turning but was a low and slow wicket. The ball was coming nicely on the bat and Chris Gayle made the most of it.

He batted superbly and didn’t give us any chance to make a comeback. We had a plan that I will get Gayle out. But in my initial two overs that I bowled to him, he only faced one delivery and by the time I came back to bowl my second spell in the 13th over he was batting at 70 plus. In fact he has been the most impressive player of the season. He made a whole lot of difference to the fortunes of Royal Challengers in the tournament and in lot of their victories he was 'the factor'.

But on a wicket like this we expected our batting to chase the target. But we couldn’t get close to it, and the ever increasing run rate always kept us under pressure.

In the finals, Royal Challengers had to face the same consequences, as this time Chennai Super Kings were giving them the similar treatment. One has to say that Chennai was the best team and are the deserving winners of this tournament. Their batting has been fantastic and their bowling unit has made most of the given opportunities.

Especially at their home ground, they had great idea about the areas to bowl and the right line-length to operate. So congratulations to them on their second consecutive title. Now the onus is on the other teams to come back strong next year to take this title away.

We at Mumbai Indians have learnt our lessons and hopefully next year we will be good enough to play substantial cricket till the end.

IPL 2011

For me, it's time to be at home to spend some time with family before embarking on the long tour of West Indies followed by England. These two - three days are very precious as after this I don’t think I will see them before mid of September. I am looking forward to wear India colours again and the tour is going to be a good challenge for us.

Some of the senior players are missing so this is a good opportunity for youngsters as well to make their mark. I am very confident of doing well in the West Indies.