Chennai: When three runs were required off three balls from the final over from Dwayne Bravo, Manoj Tiwary pulled the short ball to the fence to register a stunning five-wicket win for Kolkata Knight Riders over Chennai Super Kings in the IPL final at Chepauk here on Sunday. With this win, KKR dashed CSK’s hopes of winning a hat-trick of titles. The nail-biting finish triggered big celebrations in the KKR camp with Shah Rukh Khan watching the match closely with his family. This title triumph for KKR was possible because of a brilliant 89 by Manvinder Bisla and a valuable 69 by Jacques Kallis. Bisla’s swashbuckling knock (48b, 8x4, 5x6) ensured a memorable night for KKR.

Bisla kept attacking from the first ball. He often stepped out to cart the CSK bowlers all over the park. Excellent timing and uncanny ability to pick the gaps was the feature of Bisla’s knock. His century partnership (136) with Kallis steadied KKR after losing team’s highest run-getter Gautam Gambhir early.

MS Dhoni tried several tricks by shuffling his bowlers but could not contain Bisla. Both Bisla and Kallis got out while trying to accelerate. After their exits, the lower middle-order of KKR finished the job admirably. Bisla fell to a nice catch by S Badrinath off Albie Morkel. This gave CSK a glimmer of hope to comeback into the game. But Tiwary with two boundaries in the 20th over sealed Chennai’s fate.

Bisla gave a good account of himself and proved to be a match-winner.

Opting to bat first, CSK made a brilliant start. The in-form duo of Murali Vijay and Mike Hussey scored runs briskly. The duo played with a lot of understanding and looked for taking run off every ball. This positive approach enabled them to make 54 runs in powerplay.

During powerplay they used Brett Lee’s ‘pace’ to score runs. Lee instead of varying the pace was bowling flat out and banging the ball. Vijay and Hussey timed the ball well to smash sixes off Lee’s third over. This final over of powerplay cost Lee 19 runs.

The CSK duo played the first over of the tricky Sunil Narine sedately to keep their wickets intact. The West Indian conceded only four runs. Vijay and Hussey saw to that they milked runs off part-timers like Rajat Bhatia and slow bowlers like Iqbal Abdulla. At the same time they played cautiously to the likes of Naraine and Kallis.

This strategy made CSK get runs on one hand and keep wickets intact at the same time. Hussey’s powerful off drive for a six off a Lee was the shot of the day. This shot not only showed Hussey’s class but was also a pointer for KKR for things to come. But after a while Vijay (42) was suddenly done in by change of pace from Bhatia. Vijay’s half-hearted pull was brilliantly held by Shakib in the deep square leg area. By then the pair had added 87 runs for the first wicket. Thereafter, Hussey and Suresh Raina consolidated. Raina cut, chopped and pulled with gay abandon as sixes and boundaries flowed from the meat of Raina’s blade. Yusuf Pathan suffered the most as he did not know where to pitch the ball. Lee and the economical Narine too had to bare the brunt of Raina’s onslaught.

During this phase, Hussey quietly completed his 50 before being castled by Kallis going for an ambitious shot. Dhoni joined Raina in the run-fest. Raina was out to the last ball of the innings caught by Lee in the deep off Shakib. CSK played the same team that played in the semifinal. KKR brought in Lee for an injured L Balaji and Bisla for Brendon McCullum.