The script demanded the man named Hollywood make the winning runs. He may have got it wrong by one run. But the zeal with which he ran for the possible winning run after dropping bat and gloves, the 38-year-old could easily have done a hamstring. That is Shane Warne for you, as enthusiastic as a schoolboy doing the star turn in an inter-class match.

Searching for the one word to wrap up the 44-day experience, the Victorian came up with ‘passion’. To boot, he was more passionate than younger men about winning the title for his Emerging Media bosses who gave him the motivation kick late in his career. Ever the consummate guru, Warne hugged everyone there was to hug as his Rajasthan Royals lifted the title.

The prize money of Rs4.8 crores, the highest ever paid in cricket history, seemed incidental as the winners converged on the ground to embrace Sohail Tanveer, the calm striker of the winning hit, and their skipper Warne who had changed their life and fortunes in the trend-setting IPL. The happiness writ on Rajasthan faces told the tale of how much victory meant.

The Chennai Super Kings were gallant right down to the last ball. Unfortunate that they should end up as the bridesmaid on one of the biggest nights in Indian cricket on which Bollywood stars, gymnasts, paragliders and singers descended on the DY Patil stadium in Navi Mumbai. The last ball thriller could have gone either way, could even ended in a tie, but a bowl-out would have been a terrible infliction on such splendid cricket.

The Chennai Kings will always rue the dropped catch that cost them the match. Putting down the biggest and most consistent hitter of sixes, Yusuf Pathan, was unlikely to put them in the winner’s circle. The batsman who has come on the most in the IPL - don’t want to talk about his bowling because I don’t believe his action will pass muster if it is checked by bio-mechanists - played the most decisive role in the final win.

A pity then that Chennai’s best fielder as well as its most fluent batsman, Suresh Raina, should be the one to put down Pathan off a sitter on the onside. While most of his lofted strokes ended up in the ‘DLF maximum’ category, this mishit swirled mysteriously above mid wicket before dropping into both hands of Raina who spilled it.
When the last over was put down to Balaji when seven runs were to be made, the die was cast. Like an off spinner bowling too many googlies to become predictable, the mended fast bowler bowls too many slower leg breaks and so forms a clear pattern for the batsman who is looking for one in the arc to slam. Tanvir is too smart a cricketer not to spot one to put away past the in-field.
And yet it was not a night for recriminations. The team that qualified last to the semi-finals did the most to make a fantastic contest of the final. Chennai’s team work was the talking point even as the Royals depended on their virtually unknowing Indian stars and their fancy strikers like Shane Watson and Yusuf Pathan to do their best for their inspirational skipper.

Dhoni remained calm right through. He is not the one to bite the bowler’s ears although he was tempted to do just that in the final over of this epic thriller of instant cricket. When it comes to matching Mr Hollywood it takes a lot more than a Kollywood image aping one of Chennai’s best known actors, Rajinikanth.

The evening was so classy with a closing ceremony, putting to shame several held at modern Olympics, that it would have been less than right had there been a one-sided final. The message was that the IPL is here to stay and after an epic final like that this kind of cricket is bound to be a super hit. Not only Shane Warne but everyone who took part in it will know he has been a part of an event that will change cricket history.