Kolkata Knight Riders are the new IPL Champions. They chased down an imposing Chennai Super Kings total inspired by Manvinder Bisla and Jacques Kallis.
Mike Hussey (54), Murali Vijay (42) and Suresh Raina (73 from 38 balls) helped Chennai post 190-3 from their 20 overs.
KKR lost skipper Gautam Gambhir cheaply but Manvinder Bisla (89) and Jacques Kallis (69) added 136.
Bisla’s dismissal sparked a flurry of wickets but Manoj Tiwary saw them home with two balls to spare.
The Knight Riders had needed nine off the final over, bowled by West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, but Tiwary smacked two successive fours to hand his side the title and spark wild celebrations.
Suresh Raina earlier cracked a 38-ball 73 with five sixes to help Chennai set a stiff target. Australian Michael Hussey (54), who turned 37 on Sunday, and Murali Vijay (42) were the other main scorers.
CSK made a brisk start after electing to bat as Hussey put on 87 for the opening wicket with Vijay and then 73 for the second wicket with Raina.
Raina raced to his half-century off just 27 balls before falling off the last ball of the innings.
Manvinder Bisla, drafted into the side in place of Brendon McCullum to accommodate Brett Lee after fellow-pacer L Balaji failed to recover from a hamstring injury, struck five sixes and eight boundaries at the top of the order to help his side chase down Chennai’s challenging 190-3 with two balls to spare.
Chennai began their defence well with Ben Hilfenhaus (2-25) sending back in-form skipper Gautam Gambhir (2 off 4) in the first over.
But Bisla counter-attacked brilliantly, with the experienced Jacques Kallis (69 off 49 balls) anchoring the innings as the pair put on 136 runs in 13.4 overs.
The Knight Riders, playing in front of the partisan MA Chidambaram crowd, looked set to wrap the match up comfortably but Bisla’s wicket with 52 needed off 33, gave Chennai hope.
The experiment of sending Lakshmi Ratan Shukla (3 off 6) as a pinch-hitter failed and Kolkata were soon in further trouble after Yusuf Pathan (1 off 2) top-edged R Ashwin (1-41) with S Badrinath taking a well-judged catch.
Kallis, tiring further with every over, fell with 16 needed off eight balls, hitting a Hilfenhaus full toss straight to Ravindra Jadeja at the cover point fence.
But Hilfenhaus bowled a no ball that went for three runs and Shakib-al-Hasan (11 off 7) scooped the final ball of the penultimate over for a boundary to leave the team needing nine off the final over.
After singles off the first two balls from the Dwayne Bravo (1-49), Manoj Tiwary (9 off 3) struck the next two deliveries to the backward square leg fence to seal the victory.
