There were a galaxy of former Indian cricketers in attendance, the brightest lights from Bollywood were in the stands, both teams had some of the biggest stars in the world game but the headlining performance came from little-known Manvinder Bisla as Kolkata Knight Riders prised the IPL trophy out of Chennai Super Kings’ hands. Bisla, who was without a Ranji Trophy side last season, made a mockery of his previous career Twenty20 strike-rate of 106 to play a jack-in-the-box innings that helped overhaul what had seemed a mountainous Super Kings total.
For Chennai Super Kings’ third straight playoff match, a similar tale played out, putting them in prime position for their third consecutive IPL title. For the third time this week, a magical innings from a previously out-of-form batsman left the opposition clueless and Super Kings with a giant total.
After MS Dhoni and M Vijay, it was Suresh Raina’s turn to play a blinder. He entered with Super Kings already in a position of strength, with Michael Hussey and M Vijay clicking again, and proceeded to pulverise the best of the Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers. Weak against the short ball? Raina’s first boundary was a powerfully pulled six over midwicket off Jacques Kallis. The mystery of Sunil Narine? Raina slog-swept into the stands and later deposited the ball near the sightscreen as Narine was handed his most expensive figures of the tournament. Brett Lee was swiped over midwicket on his way to figures of 4-0-42-0, nullifying the decision to include him to provide additional firepower to the Knight Riders attack. The shot of the innings, though, wasn’t a muscled one, but a punch over the bowler’s head that was perfectly timed to beat a diving long-on. Unlike in the knockout game against Delhi Daredevils, Super Kings took a couple of overs to get going. Vijay didn’t show off his off-side drives like he had against Delhi, instead reverting to his flat-bat hoicks and whips to wide long-on.
Scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 192 for 5 (Bisla 89, Kallis 69) beat Chennai Super Kings 190 for 3 (Raina 73, Hussey 54, Vijay 42) by five wickets.
