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Knight Riders win thrilling Final

Bailey’s Kings defeated by three wickets

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Kolkata Knight Riders have been crowned IPL champions for the second time in three years with a thrilling three-wicket win over Kings XI Punjab in Bangalore.

The win was set up by a sensational knock from Manish Pandey, who belted seven fours and six sixes in his 94 from 50 balls.

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Chasing 200 for the win, Kolkata’s pursuit of victory began in terrible fashion when Mitchell Johnson picked up the big wicket of star batsman Robin Uthappa for five in the first over.

Gautam Gambhir and Pandey kept the scoreboard ticking over, before the skipper came undone for 23.

That brought the dangerous Yusuf Pathan to the crease, who combined with Pandey to steal the momentum from George Bailey’s side.

When Pandey brought up his fifty from 31 balls in the 11th over, it looked as though KKR would cruise home to victory.

But just as Kolkata looked to be taking the game away from their opponents, Bailey threw his faith behind the leg-spin of Karanveer Singh. That faith was rewarded with the key wicket of Pathan, caught by Glenn Maxwell in the deep for 36.

Captain Bailey then got in on the act with a repeat of his brilliant fielding effort on Friday to run out Shakib Al Hasan for 12 to give his side some hope of IPL glory.

The 24-year-old Pandey continued to find the boundary despite the steady loss of wickets, but his brilliant display was finally ended six runs short of a well-deserved century.

Mitchell Johnson took the ball for the 19th over and the match took another turn with the wicket of Suryakumar Yadav, before Piyush Chawla sent the final ball of the over into the stands to leave his side needing five runs off six balls for the ultimate prize.

Sunil Narine managed a single, allowing Chawla to complete the task with a boundary and three balls to spare.

Johnson finished with 2-41 from his four overs, while Karanveer claimed 4-54 from his allotment.

Earlier, Punjab’s openers made a cautious start after being sent into bat by Gambhir.

Virender Sehwag failed to repeat his heroics from Friday night’s win over Chennai, caught by the Kolkata skipper for seven in the fourth over.

Bailey then shocked many by promoting himself up the order to the No.3 position, after coming in at No.7 in the previous encounter between the two sides. The experiment failed, however, with the Aussie T20 skipper bowled by Sunil Narine for one.

It was a stunning start from the West Indies spinner, who chose his IPL franchise over his country for this match, as he picked up 1-2 from his opening over.

Saha and Vohra then set about rebuilding the Kings XI innings. With the score 2-58 after 10 overs, and with Maxwell and David Miller still in the sheds, an increase in the tempo was essential.

And increase they did.

Saha struck back-to-back sixes off Chawla to bring up the 50-run partnership in the 12th over.

It was the 14th over, Narine’s second, that catapulted Kings XI towards something that could prove to be a competitive total. Saha and Vohra took 19 off the over, followed by 19 more from the next over by Morkel, as they both reached their half century and brought up the 100-run partnership.

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Another eventful Narine over featured a dropped return catch, then what looked like the stumping of Vohra. Maxwell had even started making his way out on to the ground, before the third umpire gave it not out due to Uthappa collecting the ball in front of the stumps.

Vohra was eventually dismissed for 67, with Chawla completing a juggling catch to have Punjab 3-159 and finally bringing Maxwell out to the middle with 17 balls remaining.

The Big Show didn’t last long, however, with his beloved reverse sweep proving to be his downfall for a golden duck.

Saha carried on with his brilliant batting display, bringing up his century off 49 balls with consecutive sixes in the 19th over.

The 29-year-old finished unbeaten on 115 off 55 balls, including 10 fours and eight sixes, to guide his side to an imposing total of 4-199. 

It was a surprising effort considering the output of star international trio Bailey, Maxwell and Miller equated to just two runs off four balls.