Raina century leads Chennai Super Kings to title

Chennai Super Kings overwhelmed Kolkata Knight Riders by 8 wickets to clinch the Champions League T20 title.

 PLAYING 11

KOL

R Uthappa (†), G Gambhir (C), J Kallis, M Pandey, Y Pathan, R ten Doeschate, S Yadav, A Russell, P Chawla, P Cummins, K Yadav

CHE

D Smith, B McCullum, S Raina, F du Plessis, D Bravo, P Negi, M Dhoni (C, †), R Jadeja, R Ashwin, M Sharma, A Nehra

Raina celebrates his century in Bengaluru.Toss Chennai Super Kings chose to bowl v Kolkata Knight Riders
Chennai Super Kings scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Kolkata Knight Riders scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Not sure of how the Bangalore pitch would behave, MS Dhoni decided to bowl in the Champions League T20 final. Also influencing his decision was the dew that had already started appearing on the outfield despite the 7 pm start instead of the usual 8 pm. Gautam Gambhir said he was also looking to chase.
Kolkata Knight Riders brought in fast bowler Pat Cummins for the banned Sunil Narine, someone who Dhoni said was irreplaceable. Super Kings were unchanged from their semi-final.
The Bangalore pitch has not quite been the flat batting surface it usually is. It has played slower and spinners have found assistance. However, Dhoni said the pitch for the final looked better than previous ones at Bangalore in the tournament, although he was not certain that appearance would translate into a better batting surface too.