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IPL PHOTOS: Brilliant Pandey guides Kolkata to second IPL triumph
Kolkata Knight Riders won their second Indian Premier League title, beating Kings XI Punjab by three wickets in the final at the Chinnaswamy stadium, in Bangalore, on Sunday.
Needing 200 to win, Piyush Chawla hit the most important 13 runs of his life, pulling Mitchell Johnson for a six off the last delivery of the penultimate over before slashing Parvinder Awana over point, and running a victory lap as his delirious teammates joined him.
If Wriddhiman Saha's 115 off 55 balls was pure joy to watch, Pandey's 94 off 50 balls was better than the best, as he almost singlehandedly won the match for the Shah Rukh Khan-co-owned franchise.
Earlier, Kolkata opted to bowl against Punjab. The latter brought in veteran pacer Lakshmipathy Balaji in place of young Sandeep Sharma while KKR fielded an unchanged side.
Teams
Kings XI Punjab: George Bailey (captain), Manan Vohra, Virender Sehwag, Glenn Maxwell, David Miller, Wriddhiman Saha, Karanveer Singh, Akshar Patel, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Mitchell Johnson, Parvinder Awana
Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir (captain), Robin Uthappa, Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Shakib al Hasan, Suryakumar Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Ryan ten Doeschate, Morne Morkel, Umesh
Yadav, Sunil Narine
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Sunil Narine struck with his first delivery
Sent in to bat, Kings XI Punjab scored 199 for four.
Virender Sehwag's (7) fans, who were expecting another swashbuckling innings, were left disappointed as the veteran batsman did not execute the pull-shot off a well-directed bouncer from Umesh Yadav. The resultant skier was taken by Gautam Gambhir, standing at mid-off.
Then there was a battle of wits between the skippers, which Gambhir won hands down.
Rival skipper George Bailey (1) promoted himself up the order. It prompted Gambhir to bring in Sunil Narine. The first delivery was a big off-break. Bailey tried to play an ugly paddle shot, shuffling across the line. He missed it and the leg-stump was uprooted.
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Opener Vohra made a 52-ball 67
Manan Vohra, a surprise retention at the start of the season, scored 67 off 52 balls, including six fours and two sixes.
He was lucky on 62, as Robin Uthappa collected the ball in-front of the stumps while trying to stump him. But he was out trying to slog Chawla.
More importantly, he helped Wriddhiman Saha add 129 runs (off just 72 balls) for the third wicket.
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Saha became the first to score a century in an IPL final
But the Punjab innings was all about Saha.
The wicketkeeper played a career-defining innings. His magnificent century propelled him into the record books for being the first player to score a century in an IPL final. He finished unbeaten on 115 off 55 balls, including 10 fours and eight sixes.
Punjab looked in a spot at 58 for two after the first 10 overs. The back-10 got them as many as 141 runs thanks to the brilliant counter-attack by the Bengal stumper.
The day belonged to Saha, who was in a mood to punish the spinners but played some equally good shot against the pacers, including a hook shot off Morne Morkel.
Sunil Narine, who decided to give Test cricket a miss was clobbered for 46 runs in his four overs.
Saha completed his century off 49 balls, hitting Narine over long-on for a six, which Suryakumar Yadav nearly got his hand.
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Yusuf and Pandey added 71 runs for the third wicket
Chasing a formidable target, Robin Uthappa (5) finally had an off-day, as his uppish drive was smartly snapped by Akshar Patel at cover off Mitchell Johnson's delivery.
Gambhir and Manish Pandey hit a flurry boundaries as KKR reached 59 for one at the end of the Powerplay.
The KKR skipper looked in good nick with 23 off 16 balls before young leggie Karanveer Singh had him caught in the deep off David Miller as the left-hander tried to give the charge by dancing down the track.
That brought Manish Pandey and Yusuf Pathan (36) together, and the pair added 71 runs (off 44 balls) for the third wicket.
Despite losing wickets late in their innings, Kolkata always maintained the asking rate and that eventually earned them the title.