Llorne Howell - Sports blogger Former cricket international for the Black Caps, Llorne Howell, gives his views on New Zealand's number one summer sport, both for the Bay and the national team.

There were some notable attendees from NZ. Danny Morrison was in commentary. Steven Fleming was coaching. Brent King a NZ Cricket Director had paid his own way on business with Investment Research Group from Tauranga and Auckland.

There were two huge turning points in the final. One was the toss and the other was the Mumbai Indians' match losing catching.

CSK of course fielded well. Their coach is Steve Rixon along with Stephen Fleming.
Steve is well known for highlighting fielding as the way to gain the edge in tight matches.

I in fact ended a chance of an international career with Steve as Black Cap coach. My bicep started tearing off the shoulder and the rotator cuff jammed up completely. This was due to the volume of fielding and hard throwing. If throws were poor from in close or in the deep you kept going until you hit the target. You train like this to win games. It is the physio's job to see problems early and fix them. If he can't fix them he should get you out of there before damage is done. The coach just needs 12 fit guys to drill extensively.

Mumbai did have a fielding coach in Jonty Rhodes. Maybe Steve Rixon is just a better coach?

The toss in the final in Navi Mumbai was vital because once again the wicket was dry and much slower in the second dig. It is the end of the Indian season and wickets have fully dried out. It now moves into full summer here which is far too hot for cricket. Cricket is like rugby in NZ. It is a winter sport. The dry wicket meant that with the added pressure of batting second and chasing runs the toss was vital. CSK won it and batted.

The captaincy battle in itself was intriguing; Tendulkar for Mumbai and the Indian captain MS Dhoni for CSK.

Both are massive stars here. For five minutes when Sachin went out to toss all you could hear was "Sachin! Sachin! Sachin!"

However, it was not the captaincy that decided the match. Mumbai had CSK under control and were limiting their scoring in the first 10 overs. Then two missed chances off star batsman Suresh Raina lost the match for Mumbai.

Firstly he tried to clear the leg fence only to top edge down to third man. Backward point ran back. Third man came forward. Whether they could not hear the calling was possible, but they both stood their and watched it bounce between them. Next over Zaheer Khan was under a similar shot from Raina. It swirled, he moved and he dropped it. Instead of being four down and under immense pressure, Raina and Dhoni went on the offensive. CSK made 168 absolutely smashing Mumbai in the last eight overs. Raina was the chief destroyer.

It was always going to be hard for Mumbai, but with Tendulkar making 48 and some intelligent batting they got to a position needing 60 off 24 balls.

Chasing huge runs in the last few overs, they made another bizarre call. When they lost Tiwari, who is a big hitter, with about four odd overs left and being four down, Mumbai decided to bring in JP Duminy ahead of Pollard. Whoever made that decision needs to be shot. What a way to make yourself miss the chance to win a game. Duminy stuffed around for six or seven off equal balls. All I can think is one possible reason "the match was actually rigged for CSK". CSK paid slightly more, but Mumbai were expected to win so would have taken huge money on them. The bookies would have made a killing off a CSK result.

Pollard only got to bat in the 17th over with 18 balls left. In his first over off Bollinger he hit 22. This is the hitting power of the guy. But it was all too late and any good dot ball just escalated the required run rate.

CSK won and can thank Steve Rixon and Steve Fleming for the obviously good job they did.

Finally, one point I would like to make is that T20 is similar to baseball. It is 120 balls each innings whereas baseball is about 100-120 pitches per team.
The World Series is best of seven as these are quick games that can change through one innings or spell.

Maybe to decide the IPL they could look at best of three or similar to give a true gauge to the best side. One-off matches can be won on the toss or one performance as last night.