11 bowlers who bowled the final ball in the 11 seasons of IPL

The IPL final has always been one of the most watched cricket matches worldwide. Two teams who have performed their best in the two-month long league stage battle it out to take the supreme honours home. Chennai Super Kings have been a part of six IPL finals while Mumbai Indians have reached the summit clash four times. Delhi Daredevils have failed to reach even a single IPL final in the 11 seasons they have taken part in.

It is a dream for every player to play an IPL final and make a match-winning contribution for their side. The bowlers have always played an important role in deciding their team’s fate in the final. An interesting fact which has emerged out of all the 11 finals is that in the 22 innings played, no team has been bowled out even once. 3 out of the 11 matches were decided in the final over, with the 2017 IPL final between Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiant being the closest final ever fought.

The last over of the 2nd innings is the most crucial over of the tournament as the completion of that over guarantees an IPL champion. Here are the 11 bowlers who have bowled the last ball in the 11 seasons of IPL:

#11 Carlos Braithwaite - Sunrisers Hyderabad (Result - Lost), IPL Final 2018

Braithwaite had only 2 runs to defend

Carlos Brathwaite’s quick-fire 21 (11) powered the Sunrisers Hyderabad to a defendable total of 178 in their 20 overs. However, a special innings from Shane Watson (117*) shattered Kane Williamson’s hopes of inspiring the Sunrisers to a memorable IPL triumph. He, along with Suresh Raina, dispatched Sandeep Sharma and Siddarth Kaul to the cleaners as Chennai Super Kings reached closer to the target.

With only 2 runs to defend, skipper Kane Williamson handed the ball to West Indian pace bowler Carlos Brathwaite who bowled two dot balls before Ambati Rayudu smashed his full-length ball for a boundary. Chennai Super Kings tied Mumbai Indians’ all-time record of 3 IPL trophies with this victory.

#10 Mitchell Johnson - Mumbai Indians (Result - Won), IPL Final 2017

Arch-rivals Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiant played out one of the most thrilling IPL finals ever

After electing to bat first after winning the toss, Rohit Sharma’s Mumbai Indians could score a meagre 129/8 in their entire 20 overs setting the Steve Smith led Rising Pune Supergiant a target of 130. Mumbai Indians had been unsuccessful in the defeating the Pune franchise in 3 attempts earlier in the league and nobody expected the Mukesh Ambani owned franchise to win the title, the way Ajinkya Rahane and Steve Smith stitched a 54 run partnership.

However, in a dramatic turn of events, a slow innings from MS Dhoni and Manoj Tiwary brought MI back into the game and left Pune needing 11 off the last 6. Manoj Tiwary smashed Mitchell Johnson for a 4 before handing a catch to Kieron Pollard. Johnson dismissed the well-set Steve Smith on the third ball and conceded 5 runs in his last 3 deliveries to set up an epic one-run win for the Mumbai Indians.

#9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar - Sunrisers Hyderabad (Result -Won), IPL Final 2016

Bhuvneshwar Kumar's incredible bowling performance helped Sunrisers lift their maiden IPL title

David Warner and Ben Cutting's heroics led SRH to a huge 208/7 in their 20 overs. But a Gayle storm hit them as the big Jamaican scored 76 off just 38 balls to blow away the SRH bowling attack. Virat Kohli, who was in the form of his life in IPL 2016, scored 54 off 35 to help RCB reach nearer to the target. But the middle order of RCB featuring Shane Watson, KL Rahul, and AB de Villiers collapsed in the worst way possible to let SRH back into the match.

Bhuvneshwar bowled the final over with 18 runs to defend with Sachin Baby and Chris Jordan batting on the pitch. The Meerut born pacer, however, gave away only 9 runs including Iqbal Abdulla's meaningless boundary on the last ball, to set up SRH's first-ever IPL title win.

#8 R Vinay Kumar - Mumbai Indians (Result - Won), IPL Final 2015

R Vinay Kumar conceded 21 runs in his over but

MI

had done enough to lift the trophy

Riding on Lendl Simmons’ 68 and Rohit Sharma’s 50, Mumbai Indians scored a mammoth 202/5 in their allotted 20 overs and set a target of 203 for MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings. The Men in Yellow got off to a slow start as they lost Michael Hussey with just 22 runs on the board in 4.4 overs. However, Dwayne Smith’s half-century and Suresh Raina’s 28 helped Chennai bounce back into the game.

After Smith lost his wicket, the batting order suffered a collapse as they went from 99-2 to 137-8 in the space of 31 balls. With 63 runs to defend off the last 6 balls, Rohit Sharma handed the ball to R Vinay Kumar who was smashed to the boundaries by Mohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja. Eventually, MI won the match by 41 runs.

#7 Parvinder Awana - Kings XI Punjab (Result - Lost), IPL Final 2014

Indian discard Parvinder Awana could not defend 5 runs in his last over

IPL fans will always remember 2014's IPL for Glenn Maxwell and David Miller's exploits and how they led KXIP to their maiden IPL final. However, the duo failed in the final as the youngsters Wriddhiman Saha and Manan Vohra took the centre stage. The magnificent contributions from the two KXIP batsmen helped the Mohali franchise set a daunting target of 200 for Gautam Gambhir's Kolkata Knight Riders.

Riding on Manish Pandey's 94, the Shahrukh Khan owned franchise scripted one of the most memorable chases in IPL history. With 11 needed off the last 7, Piyush Chawla dispatched a Mitchell Johnson delivery outside the park to bring the equation in KKR's favor. The stalwart then hit a boundary on the third ball of Awana's last over to take his team to their second IPL title.

#6 Kieron Pollard - Mumbai Indians (Result - Won), IPL Final 2013

Kieron Pollard emerged as the hero for Mumbai Indians in the IPL final 2013

Kieron Pollard has been one of the best players for the Mukesh Ambani owned franchise in its 11-year history. He performed brilliantly with the bat in the 2013 IPL final as his 60* off 32 balls led the Mumbai Indians to a respectable total of 148/9 after suffering a top-order collapse at the hands of Albie Morkel and Mohit Sharma.

Lasith Malinga and Mitchell Johnson's remarkable performances shifted the game in Mumbai's favor but the CSK skipper MS Dhoni (63* off 45) kept fighting. With 39 required off the last 6 balls, Dhoni hit the first two balls from Kieron Pollard out of the park but the Trinidadian bowled 3 dot balls next to rule out the possibilities of a miracle. The tall West Indian bowled a silly wide ball before bowling one of the slowest deliveries to end IPL 2013.

#5 Dwayne Bravo - Chennai Super Kings (Result - Lost), IPL Final 2012

Chennai Super Kings failed to defend their title in 2012

Two-time defending champions, Chennai Super Kings, entered the 2012 IPL final as favourites against Gautam Gambhir’s Kolkata Knight Riders. Electing to bat first after winning the toss, Suresh Raina’s 73 off 38 and Michael Hussey’s 54 led the MS Dhoni led CSK to 190/3 in their 20 overs.

After losing Gambhir in the first over, Manvinder Bisla and Jacques Kallis brought KKR back into the game stitching a huge 136 run partnership for the 2nd wicket. With 9 needed off the last 6, MS Dhoni handed Dwayne Bravo the ball to defend the target but Manoj Tiwary’s consecutive boundaries off the 3rd and 4th ball of the over handed Kolkata Knight Riders their first ever IPL championship.

M Bisla emerged the real hero out of this match as nobody expected the youngster to play such a mature innings on such a grand occasion.

#4 Suresh Raina - Chennai Super Kings (Result - Won), IPL Final, 2011

Suresh Raina has been one of the cornerstones of the Chennai franchise ever since the inaugural season of the Indian

Premiere

League

Murali Vijay (95) and Michael Hussey (63) made sure that their skipper's decision to bat first after winning the toss hit the bull's eye. MS Dhoni's men put up 205 on the board as the CSK batsmen ruthlessly destroyed the RCB bowlers. To make things worse for Bangalore, they lost their leading run scorer Chris Gayle for a duck on the 4th ball of their chase.

RCB were never in the chase as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. R Ashwin was CSK's best bowler with figures of 3/16. Daniel Vettori's team needed 73 off the last 6 balls as Dhoni handed Suresh Raina the ball to bowl the final over of the match. Though Saurabh Tiwary smashed the off-spinner for 2 sixes, the Men in Yellow won the match by 58 runs.

#3 Doug Bollinger - Chennai Super Kings (Result- Won), IPL Final 2010

The left-arm Australian pacer was Dhoni's go-to bowler in the 2010 IPL

MS Dhoni won the toss and batted first in the 2010 IPL Final. After a stable start, CSK lost 3 wickets in quick succession as they tumbled from 44-0 to 67-3 in no time. But Suresh Raina’s 57* off 35 and handy contributions from MS Dhoni and Albie Morkel helped Chennai set a target of 169 for Sachin Tendulkar’s Mumbai Indians.

Shikhar Dhawan could contribute nothing to the scoreboard as he lost his wicket on 0 after playing 8 balls. Sachin Tendulkar and Abhishek Nayar tried to take Mumbai closer to the target but added runs at a slower rate. With 53 runs required from the last 3 overs, the big man Kieron Pollard tried to swing the game in Mumbai’s favour. However, his dismissal in the 19th over left MI with 27 to score off the final 6. Doug Bollinger bowled one of the tidiest last overs as he leaked only 4 runs as MS Dhoni’s men lifted the IPL trophy for the first time.

#2 RP Singh - Deccan Chargers (Result - Won), IPL Final 2009

The left arm Indian pacer was in his prime during the second season of IPL

South Africa hosted the second season of the Indian Premier League as the dates of the tournament clashed with the General Elections of India. Adam Gilchrist led the Hyderabad based Deccan Chargers to their first ever final after a disappointing first season. On the other hand, Anil Kumble inspired the Royal Challengers Bangalore to their maiden IPL final.

The two teams played out a thriller at Johannesburg as Herschelle Gibbs' 53* helped DC post 143/6 on the board. However, the RCB batsmen failed to achieve the target as they fell short by 6 runs. RP Singh successfully defended 15 runs in the last over as Robin Uthappa and Anil Kumble could score only 8 runs off the last 6 balls of the RCB innings. Singh bowled two crucial dot balls in the most important over of his IPL career to set up Chargers' triumph.

#1 L Balaji - Chennai Super Kings (Result - Lost), IPL Final, 2008

L Balaji failed to defend 8 runs in his last over

Vital contributions from Parthiv Patel, Suresh Raina, and Mahendra Singh Dhoni helped the Chennai Super Kings reach 163/5 in their quota of 20 overs. Yusuf Pathan was the pick of the bowlers for Rajasthan Royals returning with figures of 3/22.

Pathan fired with the bat as well; as he along with Shane Watson added 65 for the 4th wicket to increase RR’s chances to lift the trophy. A batting collapse left Shane Warne’s side needing 8 runs off the final over to be crowned the inaugural IPL champions.

Tanvir and Warne took 7 runs from the first 5 deliveries of L Balaji as the equation came down to 1 run needed from 1 ball. Sohail Tanvir pulled a short length delivery through mid-on to steal a single as RR scripted one of the most memorable victories to win the Indian Premier League.