5 Best Batting Performances In IPL Finals

The IPL has seen a countless number of excellent batting performances accompanied by good jobs in the field as well as well as in bowling department. The IPL has provided opportunities to plenty of players to express themselves in their respective departments.

In the 11 seasons of the tournament so far, there have been a few seasons where the league has been dominated by great bowling performances like the 2017 season or the 2010 season. However, more often than not, IPL has been dominated by batting performances. Countless young stars have proven themselves by scoring runs when it mattered the most, and the IPL keeps yielding new and better players every year.

The league has also seen teams playing brilliantly throughout the season only to lose it at the last hurdle like the Kings XI Punjab in 2014, CSK in 2013 and Rising Pune Super Giants in 2017.

Although the final is easily the most important match of the season, it is the match were the most unexpected things tend to take place. Batting in an IPL final is not an easy task and playing great innings even tougher. So let us take a look at the top 5 batting performances in IPL finals so far.

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#5- Manvinder Bisla vs Chennai Super Kings (2012)- 89(48)

Bisla's scored a brilliant 89 to win them the game

The wicket-keeper batsman scored 89 runs off 48 balls to give Shah Rukh Khan's Kolkata Knight Riders their first IPL title. The Chennai Super Kings were the defending champions then.

The Chennai Super Kings, who batted first, posted a daunting total of 190 and set a target of 191 for KKR. Mike Hussey and Suresh Raina contributed with half-centuries while MS Dhoni and Murali Vijay played good cameos.

For KKR, Bisla opened the innings with captain Gautam Gambhir. Gambhir departed for just two runs. Bisla took the lead after his departure and stroked his way through to a half-century in 27 balls. He became more aggressive after his fifty and began slogging the spinners.

Barring Hilfenhaus, none of the CSK bowlers were spared. When Bisla was on 89 and looked set for a century, he perished while trying to play an uppercut off Albie Morkel.

Meanwhile, Jacques Kallis didn't stop his free-flowing shots as he carried the innings until the 18th over where he fell prey to Hilfenhaus. Manoj Tiwary later took the onus on himself to finish things. With 9 runs required off the last over, Tiwary smashed 2 boundaries to win KKR its maiden title.

Manvinder Bisla was adjudged the man of the match for his match-winning performance.

#4- Murali Vijay vs Royal Challengers Bangalore (2011)- 95(52)

Murali Vijay's 95 help shape the game and made CSK clinch the game easily

The veteran opening batsman was the Super Kings' best player when it mattered the most. His outstanding 95 set the stage for a convincing victory for CSK. They won by 58 runs to claim their second consecutive IPL title in 2011.

Chennai Super Kings made it straight to the final after beating RCB in the 1st Qualifier. The Super Kings won the toss and elected to bat. Murali Vijay and Mike Hussey walked out to open the innings and dominated the proceedings right from the first over.

The RCB's bowlers, except for wicketless Zaheer Khan and Daniel Vettori, were plundered as Vijay launched himself into a fearless and stroke-filled innings and was ably supported by the elegant batting of Mike Hussey.

The opening duo put on an opening stand of 159, and even after Hussey's departure for 63, Vijay kept attacking the hapless Bangalore bowlers. He departed after scoring 95 of 52 balls, scoring 6 sixes and 4 fours and paved way for a big score, and made it easier for the CSK bowlers to rip the RCB batting lineup apart.

Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed both the RCB openers including the on-fire Chris Gayle, and when Suresh Raina got 2 crucial wickets of AB De Villiers and Virat Kohli, the match was pretty much over. The Super Kings completed the formalities and won comprehensively by 58 runs.

Murali Vijay won the Man of the Match award for his simply astounding innings.

#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.

#2- Wriddhiman Saha vs Kolkata Knight Riders (2014)- 115*(55)

Saha was extremely unlucky and played a beautiful innings only for their bowling to throw the game away.

Wriddhiman Saha is the only player from a losing side featuring in this list. This was because he did everything right this match only to lose out on an IPL title due to a brilliant innings from Manish Pandey and some sloppy fielding and bowling.

In terms of batting brilliance, his innings remains to be one of the best knocks that the league has seen both in terms of its importance, its elegance and shot selection.

Kings XI Punjab were put in to bat by KKR, who won the toss. Their innings faltered at the very beginning when they lost Virender Sehwag to Umesh Yadav and captain George Bailey to Sunil Narine.

The Kings were in a tricky situation when Saha came in to bat. Manan Vohra was the other opener who stayed on and played a few beautiful flick shots. Their run rate was less than 6 until the 9th over when Saha went for a cross-batted slog which soared over the mid-wicket boundary. Both Saha and Vohra began picking out bowler after bowler and steadily kept increasing the run rate.

Saha reached his 50 of 29 balls in the 14th over when he took 21 runs off Sunil Narine's over. Vohra departed in the 16th over for 67 and at that juncture, Saha was on 77 of 40 balls. He scored 26 runs off the next 10 balls to reach his century after Maxwell went back for a golden duck. Saha scored 15 runs in the next 4 balls as the Kings ended with a really competitive score of 199 and remained unbeaten on 115 of 55 balls.

However, KXIP bowlers were not able to keep the scoring rate of KKR on check. Barring Axar Patel, all the bowlers were giving away runs at an economy in excess of 10.

Manish Pandey played a masterful innings and Yusuf Pathan's cameo turned the match in KKR's favour. Chawla finished off the game by scoring a four off the third ball of the last over of the match.

Although Saha wasn't adjudged the Man of the Match, his innings still remains one of the best innings that the league has seen so far.

#1- Shane Watson vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (2018)- 117*(57)

Watson was the lynchpin for CSK in the most crucial game scoring 117 runs

In May 2018, Chennai Super Kings won their third IPL title by beating the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the finals. Chennai's strength had been their new look openers: Ambati Rayudu and Shane Watson.

While Rayudu finished a stellar season with 602 runs, Watson scored 555 runs for the team which included two centuries

In the finals, Kane Williamson and Yusuf Pathan played good knocks as the Sunrisers Hyderabad posted 181 which was more than enough for a champion bowling side, or so it seemed. For CSK, Watson opened the innings along with South African skipper Faf Du Plessis.

Bhuvi bowled a beautiful first over to Watson which did not yield any runs for CSK. Du Plessis tried to accelerate the run rate by hitting a couple of boundaries off hapless Sandeep Sharma, but Watson played out too many dot balls and the pressure rolled on to Faf, who perished while attempting to play a big shot.

Watson broke his streak of dot balls with a couple of boundaries off Siddharth Kaul. Both, Suresh Raina and Watson, played Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Rashid Khan with caution, but scored took off other bowlers.

In the 13th over, Watson slammed Sandeep for three consecutive sixes and one four as that over yielded 25 runs. He raced to his century off 51 balls. At the start of his innings, he was at 19 runs off 19 balls, which meant that he scored a phenomenal 81 runs more off just 32 balls.

After Raina's departure, his shots began to become more powerful and Rayudu just gave the strike to Watson and soon enough, he finished the game with 9 balls to spare. Watson finished off with 117 runs off 57 balls.

Chennai Super Kings won the match comprehensively completely on the back of Watto's excellent innings. He held his nerve during the pressure situation and won the game for CSK. Sunrisers, who had a brilliant campaign, lost all their 4 games to CSK.

Watson was rightly adjudged the Man of the Match for his stellar innings and will be a player to watch out for in the upcoming season.