Mumbai: Mahendra Singh Dhoni's most-dreaded fear, that of his team's average age coming to haunt him at the wrong time, didn't come true.

Seven of the 11 Chennai Super Kings (CSK) players who wore the franchise's colours at the Wankhede on Sunday, in the IPL XI final, were after all at least 30 years old. Not that Ravindra Jadeja, 29, was far away from that 'club'.

Some may have dubbed CSK as the proverbial Dad's Army, after the two-day auction in January, but a 36-year-old received the IPL Trophy for the third time in nine years of the franchise competing. The Mumbai Indians too have three wins, but over a 11-year period.

That's not all.

If Dhoni's name was being chanted long after what turned out to be a surprisingly comfortable win over the Sunrisers Hyderabad, another 36-year-old, Shane Watson, emerged as the cynosure.

A target of 179 was fairly stiff, despite dew becoming a factor. Somebody had to produce a special effort and Watson took that responsibility upon himself.

By Watson's own admission, the 2017 IPL (for the Royals Challengers Bangalore) had been his "worst," but the script turned 360 degrees this year.

Choked at the start of CSK's chase by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Watson got off the mark on the 11th delivery. In a T20 match, that's criminal.

With Watson struggling, CSK managed no more than 20 for the loss of Faf du Plessis in the first five overs. But the sixth, by Sandeep Sharma, began shifting the momentum away from the Sunrisers.

If Sharma went for 15 in that over, Siddarth Kaul gave away 32 in his first two, knocking Kane Williamson's plans for a six. Rashid Khan stemmed the flow in his spell of two overs, but Shakib-al Hasan conceded 15 in his first - the innings' 11th - and the target was no longer intimidating.

The winning runs came around 10.35 pm, but CSK had sealed the final a good 30 minutes before that, even prior to Watson getting his second hundred in this IPL.

Dhoni's decision to insert the Sunrisers, after some moments of drama over what had actually been Williamson's call (tail), had been contrary to conventional wisdom which demands putting runs on the board in key matches, especially a final.

However, as on many occasions in the past, Dhoni stood vindicated. Williamson, the Orange Cap holder, was left to accept that the final had been "frustrating."

Nothing much can be done when somebody shifts gears quicker than any parallel one may wish to cite and, so, it was with Watson's innings.

The burly Watson bludgeoned the Sunrisers and was 117 not out off 57 balls (in effect 47), with 11x4 and 8x6. As many as 92 runs came through the big hits.

Phenomenal, really.

Watson, by the way, had been a member of the Rajasthan Royals' XI when the Shane Warne-captained franchise won the inaugural IPL, back in 2008.

On the eve of the final, CSK's CEO Kasi Viswanathan had spoken to The Telegraph about the challenges overcome and had played down the generally upbeat mood in the franchise.

Reality now is that after winning the IPL three times, CSK can truly be labelled an iconic franchise. Forget the controversies in 2013, you have to applaud the men who make a comeback after two years and take the Trophy.

Right through the campaign, there was much talk of the Chennai fans being deprived for no fault of theirs. After just one match, CSK had to relocate to Pune.

However, Dhoni and Co. wouldn't have missed their home ground beyond a point as CSK's yellow Tees were visible all over the Wankhede and the adjoining Marine Drive and Churchgate areas too.

It was at 1.00 am (Monday) that the CSK bus returned to the Trident, Nariman Point. The assembled hundreds roared by way of saluting arguably the most popular IPL franchise.

One felt sorry for Williamson, but the Sunrisers produced some excellent performances despite losing regular captain David Warner ahead of even the first ball in the tournament.