Five of the best IPL finals in history

1) KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS VS KINGS XI PUNJAB (2014)

KKR had been there, done that. Kings XI Punjab didn’t know how to win and their inexperience could have worked against them. But they had an amazing IPL 7, as they went top of the table by beating big teams like CSK consistently. Their cricket was aggressive and entertaining.

Batting first in the final though, they were reduced to 30 for two, as Sehwag and skipper Bailey fell early. However, Manan Vohra and Wriddhiman Saha added 129 for the third wicket in just 12 overs. While Vohra scored 67 at a strike-rate of 129, Saha played a blinder, scoring 115 off just 55 deliveries at a strike-rate of 209 on a good batting track at the Chinnaswamy.

Saha was unbeaten as KXIP scored 199 in their 20 overs, almost enough for an IPL Final. But, KKR knew how to chase, and they had shown the same earlier in 2012, against Chennai, on the latter’s home turf.

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This time, their hero was Manish Pandey, who arrived in the first over after their best player of the tournament, Robin Uthappa, departed early. Pandey added 53 with Gambhir and another 71 with Yusuf Pathan who played a wonderful cameo of 36 from 22 balls.

There was a wobble towards the end as Kolkata lost both Shakib Al Hasan and Ryan ten Doeschate very quickly. When Pandey fell, they needed just 21 runs off 18 balls though and the match got even more thrilling when they lost their seventh wicket, Suryakumar Yadav with 13 needed off 10 balls.

However, Piyush Chawla’s 5-ball 13 ensured that they reached 200 with three balls to spare, thus ending Punjab’s dream and making the Knight Riders the second team after CSK to win the IPL twice.