Man of the Match awardees in IPL finals

2014 – Manish Pandey (Kolkata Knight Riders)

The Kolkata Knight Riders had once again powered their way to the final, and their opponents were surprisingly the Kings XI Punjab. A scintillating hundred from Wriddhiman Saha, playing against his former team, meant KKR would be chasing exactly 200 to get to their second IPL title.

Manish Pandey had already made a name for himself, becoming the first Indian to score an IPL hundred. On the night of the final, he played a more memorable knock. When the chips were down, Pandey constructed a gem of an innings to keep KKR in the hunt. Despite losing wickets, Pandey ensured that the asking rate never ballooned beyond his reach.

He kept getting the required ten runs an over to take the match right down the wire. The Karnataka lad fell 6 runs short of what would have been the greatest innings in an IPL final, but he had indeed done his job. KKR were home thanks to Piyush Chawla’s who lofted the ball over point, who then began to run around the ground like a madman. An epic final had come to an end, and KKR were deservingly on the winning side, courtesy of a masterful inning from Manish Pandey.