Reliving the previous nine IPL finals

2014: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kings XI Punjab

Kolkata got past Punjab in a nail-biting finish in 2014.

Punjab reached the finals for the first time in the IPL and played out KKR in a nail-biting encounter. Sehwag, fresh from a century in the semis, was undone by a Umesh Yadav bouncer to set things rolling for KKR. Narine cleaned up skipper Bailey with the score on 30-2. That is when Manan Vohra and Wriddhiman Saha stepped up in style.

They played their strokes, and did not let the bowlers settle at all. Vohra departed for a wonderful 67, but Saha refused to get bogged down at the other end. Maxwell went for a duck, but it couldn’t stop Saha from reaching his century and taking KXIP past 200.

KKR started off badly with Uthappa falling to Johnson off only the third delivery. Gambhir looked in good touch, and the score had reached 59 before he was dismissed by the leggie Karanveer Singh. Yusuf Pathan supported Manish Pandey well, the latter of whom was in full flow. A double whammy from Karanveer, and some brilliant fielding efforts by Bailey pegged the initiative back for KXIP. Pandey fell for 94, and it felt as if the Riders had choked.

Piyush Chawla held his nerve, and pulled Johnson for a six off the penultimate ball. He got the final boundary off Awana to set off the celebrations for Kolkata.