Ken Borland

They were cheering all the way from Cape Town to Dhaka, from Haryana to Bengal to Kolkata, as the Knight Riders snatched a thrilling five-wicket victory over the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League final at the Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk on Sunday.

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Chennai, the two-time defending champions, looked well beaten despite defending 191 as Manvinder Bisla of Haryana, and Jacques Kallis, Cape Town’s finest, added 136 for the second wicket in 13.4 overs.

But with Bisla outfoxed by Albie Morkel for a scintillating 89 off 48 balls, announcing himself as a great talent, and Kallis, laid low by cramps, falling for 69 in the penultimate over, Kolkata needed 16 off seven balls as the Super Kings staged a fantastic fightback.

But Bangladeshi star Shakib al-Hasan, who may well be the new best all-rounder in the world once Kallis retires, scored seven runs off the last ball of the over as Ben Hilfenhaus bowled a no-ball for height and Dhaka’s hero then innovated with a scoop for four off the extra delivery.

Manoj Tiwary, one of the new generation of Indian batting stars, then struck two fours in the final over to clinch victory with two balls to spare and spark massive celebrations in his home state of Bengal.

Chasing such a daunting target, Kolkata seemed to have suffered a mortal blow in the first over when captain Gautam Gambhir missed with a rash swish across the line and was bowled by Hilfenhaus for just two.

But Bisla showed he was equipped to play a match-winning innings on the big stage. Brought in to replace seasoned New Zealand international Brendon McCullum, because Brett Lee had to return to boost the bowling attack after Lakshmipathy Balaji failed to recover from a hamstring injury, he showed enormous self-belief against the Goliaths of the IPL and an international-strength attack.

It was David’s night as everything Bisla tried came off, the 27-year-old hammering eight fours and five sixes. He was helped immeasurably by having the experienced Kallis at his side, the South African showing great skill in placing the ball in the gaps and giving Bisla the strike.

And once Bisla cut a slower-ball bouncer from Morkel to backward point in the 15th over, with 52 runs still needed, Kallis knew he had to step up and take over the aggressor’s role.

Playing superb strokes all over the park, Kallis went to town against the bowling of Dwayne Bravo in particular as he kept the Knight Riders in the game.

Laxmi Ratan Shukla swung straight to deep midwicket to give Bravo the consolation of a wicket, while Yusuf Pathan sliced a slog-sweep off off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin to fall for just a single.

Hilfenhaus was very happy when he ended Kallis’s 49-ball innings by having him caught by the cover-sweeper in the 19th over, but that soon turned to heartache.

And then Bravo, left to defend nine runs in the final over, did not seem to know whether to bowl short or full and was punished as a result.

Tiwary punched successive boundaries through the leg-side and the IPL trophy was in the box for Kolkata, giving movie star owner Shah Rukh Khan some reward at last.

Hilfenhaus had bowled brilliantly up front to put the Knight Riders under early pressure and finished with225 in his four overs, while Morkel bowled an outstanding spell of two overs, 1-12, in the closing stages to drag Chennai back into the contest.

But the other Super Kings bowlers failed to back up the new-ball pair, with Bravo (3.4-0-49-1) and spinners Shadab Jakati (4-0-38-0) and Ashwin (4-0-41-1) failing to adapt to a flat pitch.

SCINTILATING RAINA

Suresh Raina had earlier blasted the Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers all over the park as he led the Chennai Super Kings to a commanding 190 for three.

On an easy-paced pitch, all the Chennai batsmen looked comfortable with Murali Vijay (42), Mike Hussey (54) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (14* off 9 balls) all contributing in an exceptional display by the top-order.

Raina’s scintillating 73 off 38 balls merely increased the pressure on the Kolkata bowlers after openers Vijay and Hussey had plundered 86 runs in 10 overs.

Hussey, normally the accumulator, did not sit back on this grand occasion, galloping to his 50 off 38 balls, with four fours and two sixes and some wonderfully clever strokeplay and manipulation of the field.

With Vijay conducting a similarly brutal assault on the bowling, picking up four fours and a six off 32 balls, the runs kept flowing for Chennai as the first wicket put on 87 off just 64 balls.

Vijay fell in the 11th over to a beautifully-judged, diving catch on the square-leg boundary by Shakib, giving medium-pacer Rajat Bhatia his only wicket.

But that brought Raina to the crease and that’s when life really became busy for the stats men.

The chunky left-hander smashed five sixes, four of them over midwicket, and three fours as he added 73 for the second wicket with Hussey off just 41 deliveries and made his highest score in this year’s IPL.

Kallis bowled Hussey in the 18th over, but the inspired Raina batted on until the last ball, which he slog-swept off the bottom of the bat, Brett Lee having to dash in sharply from cow-corner to get the ball in his hands.

The wicket was just reward for left-arm spinner Shakib, who conceded just eight runs in the final over.

Shakib and Bhatia both bowled just three overs, conceding 25 and 23 runs respectively, while the other wicket-taker, Kallis, was also reasonably tidy, conceding 34 runs in his four overs.

But key bowlers Sunil Narine and Lee were less successful with ball in hand, conceding 37 and 42 runs respectively in their four overs.

The Kolkata Knight Riders were cheering the outstanding death bowling of Jacques Kallis as he led them to an 18-run victory over the Delhi Daredevils and a place in the Indian Premier League final after their qualifier at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium in Pune on Tuesday.

 – http://www.supersport.com/cricket/indian-premier-league/news/120522/KKR_waltz_into_IPL_final

After batting well to score 30, Kallis sunk Delhi’s hopes as he conceded just 11 runs from the 17th and 19th overs and claimed the key wickets of Venugopal Rao and Ross Taylor. The Daredevils were most definitely in the game before the South African’s return to the attack, needing 46 runs from the last four overs, with six wickets in hand.

But Kallis, no doubt delighted to be bowling on a pitch that was not the usual low-bouncing track found in India, used the short ball superbly and bowled with pace as he finished with two for 24 in four overs.

Delhi were chasing 163 but lost big-hitting openers David Warner (7) – to a very mediocre decision by umpire Billy Doctrove – and Virender Sehwag (10), both caught behind by Brendon McCullum off successive deliveries from Shakib Al Hasan and Lakshmipathy Balaji.

So the Daredevils needed to rebuild, and Naman Ojha and Mahela Jayawardene brought Delhi back into a position from which they could win the game as they reached 83 for two after 10 overs, needing just 80 more to win.

Jayawardene was playing a masterful innings, knowing exactly where to place the ball, as he went to 39 off 33 balls, with six sublime boundaries.

Ojha scored a run-a-ball 29 before he cut a short delivery from medium-pacer Rajat Bhatia straight to backward point to give Kolkata a vital breakthrough in the 11th over.

Four overs later, McCullum managed to stump Jayawardene on the second attempt as the Sri Lankan came down the pitch to left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla, but was beaten by a quicker, flatter delivery that was fired into his pads.

Tomes have already been written about Kallis’s prowess with the bat, but on Tuesday he showed his brilliance with the ball. The 36-year-old so seldom errs in his reading of conditions and he dug the ball in to menacing effect.

Venugopal and Pawan Negi were surprisingly sent up the order when the Daredevils’ batting line-up houses a destructive, experienced hitter in Taylor, and the two Indians produced stodgy innings.

It was always a safe bet that Venugopal, flapping erratically at short balls on his way to 13 off 22 balls, would eventually run out of luck and he was all at sea against another Kallis lifter on the penultimate delivery of the 17th over, splicing a catch into the covers.

Taylor, completely wasted at No 7 in the order, then clipped Kallis firmly off his legs but straight to deep square-leg to fall for 11 off eight balls.

When Kallis finished his spell, Delhi were on 137 for six and needing 26 off the last over, but mystery spinner Sunil Narine easily accounted for Negi (14) and Morne Morkel (0).

The Daredevils finished on 144 for eight and the Kolkata Knight Riders had sealed their first appearance in an IPL final.

LATE BOOST

Yusuf Pathan provided the Kolkata Knight Riders innings with a late boost as they posted 162 for four after electing to bat first.

Pathan, who has had a woeful IPL, hammered 40 not out off just 21 balls as the Knight Riders reached a challenging total on a pitch that offered turn and some assistance for the pace bowlers.

The Knight Riders’ top-order struggled to break the shackles of tight fielding and tidy bowling by Delhi, with Gautam Gambhir, McCullum and Kallis all getting set before getting out as Kolkata struggled to 106 for four after 16 overs.

Left-arm spinner Negi was the Delhi bowler who kept the tightest rein on the run-scoring, taking one for 18 in four excellent overs.

Kolkata openers Gambhir and McCullum successfully negotiated the impressive opening burst from Morkel, and Gambhir was humming along splendidly as he raced to 32 off 16 balls.

But McCullum then drove Varun Aaron firmly to mid-off and Gambhir came too far down the pitch, Venugopal scoring a direct hit, which the third umpire ruled had just beaten the Indian star’s effort to get back to his crease.

McCullum was just starting to show some promising signs of blossoming as he went to 31 off 36 balls, but he then sliced a drive off Negi to point.

Kallis scored 30 off 33 balls before he picked out the man at deep midwicket with a wonderfully-struck short-arm pull off Umesh Yadav.

That left the Knight Riders in an awkward position with just four overs remaining, but Pathan hammered three fours and two sixes with the ferocity of an orc, while Laxmi Ratan Shukla set about the bowlers from the start of his innings in a scintillating 24 not out off 11 balls.

Pathan and Shukla added 56 for the fifth wicket off just 24 balls to leave Delhi chasing a testing target against the best spin-based attack in the competition. The pair took 21 runs off the last over of the innings, bowled by Aaron.

The Daredevils’ decision to use just one spinner in Negi backfired, with the South African, Roelof van der Merwe, left on the sidelines as the fast bowlers – Yadav (4-0-37-1), Morkel (4-0-37-0) and Aaron (4-0-48-0) – all leaked the runs at an alarming rate.

Irfan Pathan, the left-armer, was the one pace bowler to impress, conceding just 20 runs in the four-over quota while claiming the wicket of Shakib for a single.

Delhi will now play the winners of the eliminator between the Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Super Kings to decide the other finalist.