Bangalore, June 2 (IANS) Kolkata Knight Riders’ Piyush Chawla was the man of the moment as he hit a six off pacer Mitchell Johnson to bring his team on the threshold of victory and finished it off with a four off Parvinder Awana in the last over to script a three-wicket win over Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League (IPL) final at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here Sunday.
With 15 runs needed from 12 balls, Johnson bowled consistently in the block hole in the first five balls of the penultimate over. But the Australian speedster erred on the final delivery, banging it short and Chawla (13 not out) pulled it over deep backward square leg for a six.
The huge six reduced the equation to just five from six balls and Chawla hit the winning boundary as Knight Riders achieved the target of 200 with three balls to spare.
“The short ball was coming anytime. It was a great moment. Generally I don’t tend to express my emotions but this was special,” said Chawla, a former Kings XI player.
Sunil Narine, who was at the other end, said there wasn’t too much tension. The West Indian, who has had a good run in the IPL, had an off-day with the ball giving away 46 runs from four overs for one wicket.
“There wasn’t too much tension. Just wanted to make contact and give it to Piyush,” said Narine.
Bangladeshi Shakib Al Hasan, who also contributed 12 runs from seven balls, said it was brilliant for Knight Riders to win their third IPL title in two years.
“Two times in three years. Can’t feel better!” exclaimed Shakib, who has been one of the key players for the Knight Riders this season.
Yusuf Pathan, the only player to win three IPL titles, said had he stayed back, the match would have finished two overs back. Pathan played a cameo of 36 from 22-balls with four sixes.
“I shouldn’t have played that shot. We might have finished the match two overs earlier,” he said.