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Kolkata Knight Riders won their second Indian Premier League title on Sunday when they outclassed Kings XI Punjab in a thrilling final.
After struggling in the early part of the seventh season of the tournament, the 2012 champions staged a remarkable comeback, winning nine matches in a row to claim their second crown in the cash-rich Twenty20 extravaganza.
There were many impressive performances during the season, but the just-concluded tournament will best be remembered for the explosive batting of Robin Uthappa and Glenn Maxwell, and bowling of Sunil Narine, Akshar Patel and Mohit Sharma.
As the dust settles on the tournament after over a month and 60 thrilling matches, Rediff.com picks its IPL Dream XI.
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Robin Uthappa played a huge role in Kolkata Knight Riders’ triumph in IPL 7.
KKR were struggling with just one victory from five matches from the first leg in the United Arab Emirates before Uthappa’s promotion as opener paid dividends.
They went on a dream run, winning nine games on the trot, to clinch their second crown.
Uthappa led the way with ten consecutive scores of over 40, including five half-centuries in those games.
His only blip was failure in the final against Kings XI Punjab, when he was dismissed for just five. Yet, he finished as the leading scorer with 660 runs at an average of 44 and a strike-rate of 137.78.
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Lendl Simmons replaced Jalaj Saxena in the squad and singlehandedly salvaged Mumbai Indians’ faltering campaign, rescuing them from the brink of extinction from the tournament to an unlikely place in the play-offs, where they were beaten by Chennai Super Kings.
The West Indian opener scored 394 runs in eight matches at an average of 56, inclusive of three fifties and a century.
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Suresh Raina continued his good run in the IPL with another successful season with the bat.
He is only player in the history of the tournament to amass 400 runs or more in all the seven seasons of the T20 tournament.
This year, too, he excelled with the bat, scoring 523 runs, at an average of 40, including of five half-centuries.
His sensational innings of 87 from 25 balls nearly saw Chennai Super Kings pull off an impossible run-chase against Kings XI Punjab as the rest of the batsmen failed to come good in the second eliminator.
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David Warner started off slowly, but got going towards the latter part of the tournament and played some important knocks for Sunrisers Hyderabad.
The left-handed Australian was shuffled in the batting order, between the middle and opening slots, but ended up with a good run-tally.
He scored 528 runs, at an average of 48, with six half-centuries.
Hyderabad still failed to make it past the league stage.
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Glenn Maxwell was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament. Rightly so!
The Australian dominated with the bat like no other batsman and was unstoppable in the first few matches.
He, however, struggled to make an impact in the latter part for Kings XI Punjab, scoring just 35 runs in his last six outings, including a first ball duck in the final.
He finished as the third highest run-getter with 552 runs, at an average of 34, and an astonishing strike rate of 187.
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David Miller enhanced his reputation as one of the best finishers in T20 cricket with another good season for Kings XI Punjab.
The South African left-hander batted mainly in the lower middle order, but ended up with an impressive tally of 446 runs and a strike rate of 149.
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Ravindra Jadeja excelled with both bat and ball to maintain his good record in the IPL.
The left-hander scored 146 runs, but made an impact with the ball, claiming 19 wickets from 16 games.
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In his first season in the IPL, Gujarat left-arm spinner Akshar Patel emerged as one of the star performers of the seventh season.
The 20-year-old showed great maturity, especially with the ball to take 17 wickets from as many games and finish with a splendid economy rate of 6.13.
He also contributed with the bat and was electric in the field.
Following his impressive showing, he was drafted in India’s ODI team for the three-match series later this month in Bangladesh.
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Sunil Narine choose to stay with Kolkata Knight Riders for the all-important IPL final, which resulted in his axing from the West Indies Test team for the home series against New Zealand.
Retained by KKR at the auction, he had another wonderful season with the ball.
His spin bowling continued mesmerised batsmen and he finished as the second highest wicket-taker with 21 victims, at an economy rate of 6.35.
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Mohit Sharma was easily one of the best pace bowlers in IPL 7.
The 25-year-old Chennai Super Kings right-arm speedster from Haryana took home the Purple Cap for finishing as the highest wicket-taker in the tournament.
He he scalped 23 wickets in 16 matches despite conceding 8.39 runs per over.
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Bhuvneshwar Kumar was another young Indian pacer who finished with his reputation intact.
The 23-year-old Uttar Pradesh bowler left his Sunrisers Hyderabad team-mateand world fastest bowler Dale Steyn way behind with some disciplined performances.
His team failed to make it to the play-offs, but Bhuvneshwar won a lot of hearts while claiming 20 wickets in 14 matches, at an economy rate of 6.65.
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