IPL: Top 5 man of the match performances in a losing cause

#3 Anil Kumble

Anil Kumble led the Royal Challengers Bangalore from the front as they finished runners up in 2009

After a shocking inaugural season where they finished in seventh place, the Royal Challengers Bangalore came in to the second season rejuvenated with Kevin Pietersen as their new captain. They didn't fare so well, however, and were faced with the daunting task of having to win all four remaining games to qualify for the semi-finals. To add salt to their wounds, captain Pietersen had to leave for national duty. The captaincy was taken up by India's veteran leg-spinner, Anil Kumble.

What happened next was one of the most incredible stories of that season. The team clicked under Kumble, who led by example with the ball, and pulled off four wins in their last four games in the round-robin stage thus making it to the semi-finals. Their dream journey continued in the semi-finals as they convincingly beat the Chennai Super Kings to book their place in the final.

In the final, Kumble decided to field first and then justified his own decision by picking up key wickets of Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Rohit Sharma and Venugopal Rao. Adam Gilchrist was the danger man, having scored 85 runs in 35 balls in the semi-final. Kumble decided to bowl the first over himself and got rid of the dangerous Australian wicket-keeper for a duck in the third ball of the innings. The magnificent spell of leg-spin bowling saw 'Jumbo' end with marvelous figures of 4/16.

Kumble had bowled with immaculate precision throughout the tournament and he continued his form in to the high-pressure final as well, and how! The miraculous turnaround under Kumble was almost complete and the Royal Challengers had the title under their noses. However, chasing in a final is no cup of tea. The Bangalore batsman succumbed to pressure and agonizingly fell short of the target by just 6 runs.

Anil Kumble was given the man of the match award, but spare a thought for the veteran who could have captained his team to glory, a hope which was all but lost when he had taken over the reigns from Pietersen.