In the final of the CLT20 2011, Mumbai Indians Captain Harbhajan Singh won the toss and decided to bat first. Mumbai Indians was all out for mere 139 runs in 20 overs, and it was looking an easy chase for the Royal Challengers. The Nita Ambani-owned Mumbai Indians lost its last seven wickets for 34 runs in seven overs.

In reply, RCB was in the driver’s seat till the end of the fourth over of its innings. RCB was on 38/0 in four overs and was 102 runs behind to lift the trophy. But, the first ball of the fifth over of RCB inning, bolwed by the most precious bowling weapon of MI armour, Lasith Malinga, changed the direction of the game. He uprooted his Sri Lanka captain Tilakratane Dilshan’s off stump. Dilshan was looking very dangerous and had scored 27 runs in 18 deliveries when he was scalped by the long and fuzzy-haired Malinga. In the next over Captain Bhajji started his spin magic and was responsible for seeing the back of the very dangerous Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and Denial Vettori. Young spinner Yuzvendra Chahal supported exceptionally well, and teamed up well with his senior partner Bhajji, and his leg spin gave no room to RCB batsmen, and also added two wickets to his account. Both spinners claimed a total of five wickets for 29 runs in seven overs, whereas Malinga picked two wickets for 23 runs.

Mumbai Indians, who was without the services of Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel and Davy Jacobs in the Champions League T20 2011, because of injuries, was not looking the favourite of the tournament. In the league stage their batting was not looking up to the mark in at least two games, but their luck changed due to Malinga.

In the tournament, Lasith Malinga's magic enabled the Mumbai team to secure its berth for the semi final of the Champions League T20. Malinga won the man-of-the-tournament of CLT20 2011 because of his all-round performance. He picked up 10 wickets in the tournament, and won the Golden Bowl Award. He also scored useful 68 runs at an average of 34 and strike rate of 183.78.

With this victory, Mumbai won the international version of the T20 game without winning the IPL tournament even once. Mumbai Indians won $2.5 million while RCB received $1.3 million. New South Wales player David Warner won the Golden Bat Award. In the history of T20, he is the only batsman who has scored back-to-back hundreds. In this tournament, RCB also became the only team that chased 200+ runs twice.