Kolkata Knight Riders beat Chennai Super Kings to win IPL V

The Kolkata Knight Riders, after languishing in the earlier seasons, finally found form under their new captain Gautam Gambhir. Having made it to the finals after defeating the Delhi Daredevils, they defeated the favorites and two time champions Chennai Super Kings to clinch the title for the first time ever.

After beating Delhi comprehensively, they entered the finals straightaway. They waited the other winner which was the Chennai Super Kings. Kolkata seemed down and out when the Chennai Super Kings were batting. All the batsmen came out with clear message for themselves and were either slogging the ball or hitting some neat strokes.

After a steady start, Chennai Super Kings got pace and started hitting the ball to all corners. Runs started to flow easily and it looked as if they would cross the 200-run mark. Finally, they ended at 190 runs.
A target of 191 looked difficult to get, but not impossible. The man who made the chase possible was Manvinder Bisla. He scored 89 runs with fours and sixes raining all around. Manvinder Bisla was given the man of the match award for his fine performance. Sunil Narine was the player of the tournament.

In the first season, the Kolkata team finished on the sixth place out of the eight teams. The 2009 season was very poor as they finished last on the points table – the eighth position. In 2010, they repeated their performance from the inaugural season to finish at the sixth spot again. The fourth season saw some improvement as they finished in the last four.

This allowed them to qualify for the Champions League T20. The fifth season – this year was their best as they not only won the highest percentage of matches, but also the crown. By winning 70.59% of their matches, they won the IPL title for the first time ever.