Bisla blasts Kolkata Knight Riders to maiden IPL crown

Dubai: Kolkata Knight Riders, riding on a spectacular 89 from Manvinder Sultansingh Bisla, crowned themselves the new champions of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium yesterday. His scintillating knock shattered Chennai Super Kings' dreams of a hat-trick of IPL titles.

Chasing Chennai's whopping total of 190 for 3, Kolkata recorded a five-wicket win with two balls to spare. The 27-year-old Bisla, from Haryana, set the stage for the brilliant chase through his 89 runs, which came off just 48 balls with eight boundaries and five sixers.

So stunning was Bisla's knock that the experienced Jacques Kallis was left playing the supporting role. The pair put on 136 runs off 13.4 overs.

After Bisla fell to Albie Morkel when Kolkata needed 52 runs off 32 balls, Kallis took charge and went on to crack 69 runs off 49 balls with seven fours and one six. However, he fell when Kolkata needed 16 runs from seven balls.

In the last over, Kolkata needed nine runs to win, but Manoj Tiwary hit the third and fourth ball from Dwayne Bravo for successive boundaries to steer his team to victory and produce a spectacular finish to the fifth edition of the league.

Earlier, Suresh Raina and Michael Hussey hit breezy half-centuries to steer Chennai to the impressive total. Chennai openers Hussey, along with Murali Vijay, provided an electrifying start, putting on 87 runs in the 10.2 overs.

Hussey hit a fine 54 runs off 43 balls with four boundaries and two sixers, while Murali Vijay cracked 42 off 32 balls with four boundaries and a six. Raina bolstered the Chennai total with a whirlwind 73 runs studded with five brilliantly hit sixers and three boundaries. His knock came off just 38 deliveries. Hussey and Raina too put on 73 runs in 6.5 overs.

Chasing a run rate of 9.50 runs per over, Kolkata got off to shocking start losing their skipper Gautam Gambhir to the last ball of the first over from Ben Hilfenhaus.

Bisla hit Albie Morkel for three consecutive boundaries in the fourth over to pick up the run rate. He also hit Ravichandran Ashwin's second and fourth delivery of his first over for two sixers. He also did not spare Dwayne Bravo and hit him for a six over mid-off.

Bisla reached his half-century in just 27 balls and achieved a run rate of 11.21 runs per over. In the first ten overs Kolkata amassed 100 runs.

Though Chennai got back into the game by picking the wickets of Laxmi Ratan Shukla and Yousuf Pathan cheaply, Kallis kept the run rate steady to ensure the victory.

It was a sad end for Chennai who began well. Hussey showed the first signs of his trademark aggressive hitting by hitting a Brett Lee delivery for a boundary. Vijay also treated Lee with contempt, smashing the last ball of the third over through mid-on off the front foot despite the delivery being bowled at a speed of 146.1 km/h.