Bangalore: The stage was set as the final had every bit of bollywood drama and the game kept on changing every now and then making it worthy of a final. In a match which involved the likes of Uthappa, Miller, Maxwell and Sehwag very few would have expected Wridhiman Saha and Manish Pandey to call the shots which once again goes on to prove that cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties.

Gautam Gambhir won the toss and elected to field first in a pitch which was very good for batting but the outfield seemed to be very soft because of the overnight rain. KKR stuck to their guns and did not let KXI Punjab to get off to a good start. Umesh Yadav drew first blood for KKR as Virender Sehwag was induced to play a false shot and Gambhir made no mistake at mid-off.

The bowlers kept the pressure on as George Bailey after promoting himself up the order could not come good with the bat in hand as Narine struck in his very first ball of his spell. From there on it was the Vohra-Saha show as the duo kept on piling the runs, not sparing any of the KKR bowlers. Manan Vohra was soon dismissed after he reached his half-century but that did not bother Wridhiman Saha as he kept hitting the big shots at will. Saha looked to be playing in a different pitch altogether as they the rest of the players struggled to get the ball away.

Saha was in no mood to stop as he brought up his first century in the IPL and also became the only player to have scored a century in the final. Saha’s unbeaten century (115 off 55 balls) had put the Kings Eleven Punjab in the driver’s seat as they ended up getting 199 runs at the end of 20 overs.

It was important for KKR to get off to a good start but the rub of the green was going Punjab’s way as Mitchel Johnson struck in his first over by getting rid of the inform Robin Uthappa who was soon followed by Gautam Gambhir in the dressing room. Just when the match was tilting in Punjab’s favour Manish Pandey rose to the occasion and kept KKR in the hunt till the end of the match. Pandey was in his elements as he kept hitting the big shots everytime there was a requirement and Yusuf Pathan was giving him good company.

Just when Pandey (94 off 50 balls) looked unstoppable who was running away with the match, young leg-spinner Karanveer Singh struck with the ball by removing Pathan first and then the big wicket of Manish Pandey. The match was again in the balance as KKR kept losing wickets in trying to go over the line. It was then left to Piyush Chawla to take KKR home as Mitchel Johnson was steaming in with his Yorkers.

Johnson made the error of bowling short once in the last ball of the second last over when KKR needed 11 runs off 7 balls and Chawla was quick to dispatch that out of the park which gave KKR a more than decent chance to win the title second time in three years.

Awana was given the last over where he only had 5 runs to defend and it only took one hit from Chawla to finish the match with three balls to spare. Punjab might have been the best team in the tournament but KKR was the better team in the final.