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Bangalore: A resounding innings from Manish Pandey delivered Kolkata Knight Riders their second IPL trophy in three seasons, as a target of 200 was overhauled with three deliveries spare at Bangalore's M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday.
It needed a special effort to outdo Saha's 55-ball 115* and Pandey produced just that; and though he fell before finishing the job the target was achieved in nerve-shredding manner with Piyush Chawla pulling Mitchell Johnson for six to leave KKR needing five off six balls. The winning runs also came from Chawla's bat, sealing a seven-wicket win and clearing the KKR dugout.
Chasing 200 is a daunting task in any situation, but even more so in a final and when a team loses their most valuable batsman in the first over. Uthappa's golden run of ten innings of 40 or more ended when he slashed Mitchell Johnson to a leaping Akshar Patel at point, leaving KKR to go about their job with a required rate of ten an over.
They were dented further when first ball after the Powerplay - which contained just eight dot balls - Gautam Gambhir (22) heaved Karanveer Singh to wide long-on, ending a stand of 53 with Pandey.
But Pandey, on his home ground, showed some fight, slicing Karanveer over extra cover and pulling Parwinder Awana for two sixes in an expensive 11th over during which he reached fifty in just 31 balls.
KKR needed one of their big-hitting all rounders to support Pandey and Yusuf Pathan did that briefly, clouting four sixes in his 32 before he holed out off Karanveer looking for another maximum.
George Bailey nailed a brilliant direct hit to run out Shakib for 12, leaving KKR to get 44 off 27 balls. Pandey replied by launching Karanveer for sixes either side of Ryan ten Doeschate's exit, forcing the bowler to send down two wides which added to KKR's cause, but a rush of blood saw Pandey slice the last ball of the over to Bailey at cover. Karanveer, 26, finished with a T20 best of 4 for 54.
The key blows from here came when Chawla slammed Johnson over deep square leg and sliced Awana over four for the winning hit, after which he ran around the field while his ecstatic team-mates chased after him.
Earlier, a rollicking stand between centurion Wriddhiman Saha and Manan Vohra that formed the crux for a total of 199 for 4. Walking in at the fall of George Bailey in the fifth over, Saha chose the biggest stage of the tournament to hammer a maiden Twenty20 century, and one that could prove career-defining.
And to think, Glenn Maxwell and David Miller faced two deliveries between themselves. Kolkata Knight Riders need 200 to claim their second IPL trophy in three seasons.
First ten overs had produced just 58 runs for the loss of two overs, the last ten brought about 141, of which Saha's contribution was 100. This had been tough to envision after KXIP limped to 32 for 2 in the Powerplay, which was dominated by KKR's bowlers who found appreciable carry off the Chinnaswamy surface.
Virender Sehwag top-edged a short delivery from Umesh Yadav to mid-off in the fourth over, and Bailey's decision to bat at No 3 ended in embarrassment as he walked across the stumps to Sunil Narine's first ball and was bowled around the legs.
The rollicking stand ended when Chawla held a steep caught and bowled first ball of the 18th over, leaving Vohra to take the applause for a well-made 52-ball 67.
Chawla finished his spell by having Maxwell caught at short third man attempting a reverse-sweep first ball, but Saha galloped to a hundred in just 49 balls with a six off Narine. The legspinner's last over went for 17, leaving him to nurse his most expensive IPL figures of 1 for 46.
Saha finished not out on 115 from 55 balls, inclusive of ten fours and eight sixes. This will take some chasing.
Earlier, KKR have won the toss and opted to bowl first.
KXIP make one change -- bringing in Balaji for Sandeep Sharma. KKR go unchanged.
Teams:
Punjab: Manan Vohra, Virender Sehwag, Glenn Maxwell, David Miller, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), George Bailey (Capt.), Akshar Patel, Mitchell Johnson, Parvinder Awana, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Karanveer Singh
Kolkata: Gautam Gambhir (Capt.), Robin Uthappa (wk), Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Shakib Al Hasan, Ryan ten Doeschate, Suryakumar Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Morne Morkel, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav
Brief scores
Kings XI Punjab - 199/4 (Saha 115*, Vohra 67)
Kolkata Knight Riders - 200/7 (Pandey 94, Pathan 36, Karanveer Singh 4-54)
Result - Kolkata Knight Riders won by 3 wickets
