5 Best Batting Performances In IPL Finals

#3- Manish Pandey vs Kings XI Punjab (2014) - 94 (50)

Manish Pandey held the innings together and got the Knight riders their win

Manish Pandey's brilliant knock won KKR its second IPL title, bringing a stellar season for them to a well-deserved conclusion. After being sent in to bat first, Kings XI Punjab posted a mammoth 199 in their 20 overs.

After Sunil Narine's miserly opening spell had choked Punjab's innings to 40-2 in 7 overs, Wriddhiman Saha rebuilt the innings along with Manan Vohra. Saha played an innings of 115 runs while Vohra played a good supporting knock of 67 runs.

For KKR, Robin Uthappa opened the innings with Gautam Gambhir. Mitchell Johnson dismissed Uthappa for just 5 runs. Manish Pandey came in to bat when the team needed a partnership.

The partnership of Gambhir and Pandey scored runs at will and finished the powerplay with a score of 59 for the loss of 1 wicket. Gambhir, who was looking to accelerate, lofted a ball from Karanveer Singh straight into the hands of David Miller in the first ball after the powerplay had ended.

Pandey then took over and was supported by a few lofty hits from Yusuf Pathan. He played the ball square and drove beautifully both past cover and above the bowler's head. He got to his 50 off 31 balls after slamming Awana's delivery over square leg for a huge six. He kept going with his strokes and never were the Knight Riders behind the required run rate.

Yusuf, Shakib and Ten Doeschate departed in quick succession. However, Pandey remained focused on the task at hand never bothered about the wickets tumbling at the other end. Whenever the Kings took wickets to put pressure on KKR, Manish responded in an emphatic manner by scoring sixes and boundaries at will.

After being given a reprieve by George Bailey, who dropped him when he was on 64, Pandey was eventually dismissed for 94 runs off 50 balls. The Knight Riders needed to score 21 runs from 3 overs at that stage, and due to some poor bowling and a crucial cameo from Piyush Chawla, the Knight Riders won the by 3 wickets with 3 balls to spare.

Manish was adjudged the Man of the Match due to the sheer importance of his knock and the way he held the innings together after an early setback.