Celebrity Cricket League 2025 final: Punjab De Sher are the new champions; make light work of the Chennai Rhinos

For a CCL final, the stadium wore a deserted look at the start of the match, what with crowd favourites Karnataka Bulldozers ousted in the semis. As the match wore on, there was some support for the Chennai side, but the turnout was far from what it was the night before, when Kiccha Sudeep and his team were on the field. Nevertheless, the finalists, Chennai Rhinos and Punjab De Sher, soldiered on and today, it was the latter who got their act together and marched to victory. 

Harrdy won the toss and decided to bowl first, hoping to capitalize on the moisture on the pitch. When asked what total he was looking at chasing over the course of 20 overs, he said that 200 (over 2 innings) would be the range. The Punjab De Sher skipper added that he trusts his bowlers, including himself to deliver on this, and if the Chennai Rhinos first innings score was anything to go by, they stuck to that plan and how.

With only 3 of the Punjab De Sher bowlers crossing an economy rate of over 10, and the other 3 keeping it to single digits, the Rhinos crawled to 89 for the loss of 5, with Prithvi top-scoring at 23. Skipper Vikranth, who was one of the architects of the Rhinos’ defeat of the Karnataka Bulldozers, departed for only 15. Interestingly, the Shers gave away absolutely no extras, which goes a long way to show the brilliant line and length they maintained in the first innings on the field.

Although Vikranth had said that he’d also have loved to bowl first had he won the toss, when the time came, his bowlers were left scratching their heads as to how to rein in the Shers, much like what happened to the Bulldozers bowlers the night before, when the Rhinos were batting. The Shers came prepared – they had a plan in place – score consistently and get to 3 figures; 100-120 on the board is what they wanted. By the end of the 8th over, they were trailing only by 1 run and on course to getting to the goal they’d set, having lost just the one wicket.

But as commentator Charu Sharma often pointed out, Babbal and Rahul are not the biggest hitters of the ball on the team and needed to make way for batsmen who could get the ball to the boundary or beyond. That was not to be, though, what with the Rhinos dropping catches and missing run out chances. Given that the Shers have a strong batting line up, including Harrdy and Dakssh, among others, a score of 120+ would have been possible, but Babbal and Rahul could only get them to 103 – a lead of 14 runs only.

Back to bat, the Rhinos lost Sharan in the very first ball, which, could have been a sacrifice the team was ready for, to get their top batsmen in line to go out and do the big hitting. CCL rules prohibit the top 3 batsmen of the first innings to bat in that order in the second. But then they lost Ajay also in the first over. Under pressure to step it up, the Rhinos kept losing wickets, while the Shers yet again remained economical. Shantanu’s dismissal was the turning point, after which the Rhinos never really recovered, finishing for 85 for 6, and an effective total of 71 only. 72 for the win is what the Shers needed.

Chasing this down, the Shers’ openers, Anuj and Ninja, especially the former, were looking at making quick work of the total. By the end of power play, they were only 40 short of the target. Anuj fell just short of the finish line, but getting rid of him was too little too late for the Rhinos.