Agency, Bangalore :Riding on Manish Pandey’s brilliant 50-ball 94, Kolkata Knight Riders clinched their second IPL title in three years with a 3-wicket win over Kings XI Punjab in an exhilarating summit clash of IPL 7 here on Sunday.Pandey, who was the first Indian to score a century in IPL, sent Punjab bowlers on a leather hunt with his clean hitting. His innings was studded with 6 sixes and 7 fours.Kolkata became only the second team in IPL’s history after Chennai Super Kings to win the crown two times. The Shah Rukh Khan-owned franchise had won the tournament in 2012.Needing 200 to win, Piyush Chawla hit the most important 13 runs of his life as he pulled Mitchell Johnson for a six off the last delivery of the penultimate over before slashing Parvinder Awana over point to run a victory lap as his delirious teammates joined him.If Wriddhiman Saha’s 115 off 55 balls was a pure joy to watch, Pandey’s 94 off 50 balls was better than the best as he almost singlehandedly won the match for Kolkata. Not to forget the four sixes hit by Yusuf Pathan (36) which also was important in the final context of the match.It was probably the most keenly contested among the seven IPL finals as the fortunes fluctuated big time. While Punjab co-owner Preity Zinta found it difficult to suppress her nervous energy, Shah Rukh sat on the VIP stand like a monk. The only time there was a reaction was when Chawla hit the final shot as he took his daughter Suhana on his lap.Robin Uthappa (5) finally had an off-day as his uppish drive was smartly snapped by Akshar Patel at cover off Johnson’s delivery.Gambhir and Pandey hit a flurry of boundaries as Kolkata reached 59 for one at the end of the powerplay.The Kolkata skipper looked in good nick with 23 off 16 balls before young leggie Karanveer Singh got him caught in the deep off David Miller as the left-hander tried to give the charge by dancing down the track.Pandey, in the meantime, got the first six of Kolkata’s innings, hitting Karanveer over extra-cover. Pandey continued playing a free flowing innings in company of Pathan who hit a couple of big sixes over long on and extra cover off Karanveer. He followed with two huge sixes off Lakshmipathy Balaji.Pathan’s bravado ended when he tried to hit Karanveer for his fifth six only to be caught by Glenn Maxwell at the boundary line but Kolkata were very much in the game.However, Pandey’s lusty blows had kept them in the game as they needed only 58 off the last six overs. Shakib Al Hasan (12) was run-out as Bailey was again inspirational on the field.Ryan ten Doeschate (2) was Karanveer’s third victim as Miller took the catch at long-on boundary. Pandey, who was hitting sixes and boundaries at will finally got out when he tried to hit Karanveer against the turn to give a dolly to Bailey. But he had set up the match by then.Earlier, Saha played a career defining innings as his magnificent century propelled Punjab to a competitive 199 for four.Saha walked into the record books by being the first player to score a century in the IPL final as his unbeaten 115 off 55 balls had 10 fours and 8 sixes.Saha and Vohra were swift yet brutal in their shot-making as they added a whopping 129 off 12 overs after Kings XI Punjab looked in a spot at 58 for two after 10 overs.The next 10 overs got them as many as 141 runs thanks to the brilliant counter-attack by the Bengal stumper.Vohra, a surprise retention at the start of the season, scored 67 off 52 balls with 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.
