[www.inewsguyana.com] – Kolkata Knight Riders (200/7) defeated Kings XI Punjab (199/4) by three wickets to win the 2014 Pepsi Indian Premier League, their second IPL title in team history.
Knight Riders’ batsmen came through when they were needed the most, scoring plenty of runs in the middle overs to set up a dramatic finish.
Kings XI made some changes to their order and started their innings slowly, with early dismissals for Virender Sehwag (seven runs from 10 balls) and George Bailey (one from two) spelling doom for their chances.
The duo of Glenn Maxwell and David Miller were pushed down the order, and the results in the early proceedings weren’t pretty. Morne Morkel (four overs, 40 runs) and Sunil Narine (four overs, 46 runs, one wicket) appeared to be in full control during the first few overs, and the powerplay didn’t go well for Punjab.
Alternative Cricket also didn’t agree with the decision to push Maxwell down the order, despite his lack of form.
Manan Vohra made up for Sehwag’s early dismissal with 67 from 52, and Wriddhiman Saha’s contribution of 115 from 55 not out was simply monstrous.
Narine in particular suddenly started to struggle, and Punjab took full advantage. Per Wilde, Saha’s output set a new IPL finals record,Record Alert Wriddimahan Saha has scored the first hundred ever in an IPL Final.
The difference between the early and middle overs was incredible, as Knight Riders’ bowlers really lost the pedals:
Saha and Vohra kept up their incredible pace, and their production was very much needed, as Maxwell and Miller were held to just a single run between the two of them, setting a target of 200.
Kolkata’s vaunted bowling attack really let them down during Punjab’s innings, and when it was their time to bat, they knew the chase would be a difficult one.
Kolkata showed great patience in the last overs and a six from Piyush Chawla on the last ball of the second-to-last over left the team needing just five from six balls. Chawla kept his composure and finished the match with a four, completing an epic chase to give his team the championship.
