IPL 2018: Man of the Match performances across a decade of IPL finals

#9 Anil Kumble (2009)

Kumble's remarkable spell was not enough for an RCB victory

The only Man of the Match performance in an IPL final that happened to be in a losing cause, Anil Kumble played an instrumental role in taking his team, the Royal Challengers Bangalore, within striking distance of laying their hands on the glittering trophy.

Leading his side aggressively, after the mid-season departure of appointed captain Kevin Pietersen, Kumble chose to bowl first against a batting heavy Deccan Chargers. Opening the bowling himself, he laid the perfect foundation by dismissing his counterpart Adam Gilchrist with just his third ball of the match.

In what will go down as one of the most beautiful and effective spells of spin bowling in IPL history, the clever bowler accounted for important wickets of Andrew Symonds and Rohit Sharma as he ended his four overs with 4 wickets at a miserly 16 runs.

Having restricted the Chargers to 143, victory shall have been a walk in the park for RCB. The pressure of a run-chase in a final got to them and they fell short by 6 runs. Quite ironically, Kumble was at the non-striker’s end at the completion of the match, only to see his memorable performance go in vain.