Former Kolkata Knight Riders’ opener Manvinder Bisla recently revealed how he got included into the playing just before the Indian Premier League final against Chennai Super Kings. Gautam Gambhir led KKR to their historic title in 2012 and then got them their second crown two years later.
Bisla played a pivotal role on KKR’s first-ever title win as he smacked 89 off 48 deliveries in the 191-run chase in the final against Chennai Super Kings. He has now revealed that he didn’t know till the very end that he is going to be a part of the the championship clash.
Bisla’s blessing in disguise came with medium-pacer Lakshmipathy Balaji’s injury, which he picked up during KKR’s qualifier win against Delhi Daredevils. Bisla also stated that the pressure of playing in the final didn’t get to him because he didn’t know if he was playing or not.
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“Since I didn’t know if I was playing or not, I wasn’t very nervous. I think that helped me,” he told Cricbuzz. “I was told just before the match so I didn’t think too much about it. I didn’t have time really. I hadn’t played in a big final and if I had known, then that would have definitely impacted me and I would have started overthinking things.”
{{/usCountry}}“Since I didn’t know if I was playing or not, I wasn’t very nervous. I think that helped me,” he told Cricbuzz. “I was told just before the match so I didn’t think too much about it. I didn’t have time really. I hadn’t played in a big final and if I had known, then that would have definitely impacted me and I would have started overthinking things.”
{{/usCountry}}Bisla also revealed how former South Africa cricketer Jacques Kallis helped him settle in the middle after Gambhir departed for just 2 runs in the first over. Their partnership changed the flow of the match in their favour after the early setback.
“We were a bit disappointed when they posted 190. Gautam was in tremendous form in that season but he got out in the first over. When he was walking back, I said to myself that ‘I have to see this through’. When I was keeping wickets I had realised that it wasn’t a typical Chennai wicket and batting was going to be easy. But then you also have the pressure of chasing in a final in the back of your mind,” he said.
“Jacques Kallis helped me settle in. As soon as he walked in, the first thing he said was ‘take 2-3 overs and then we’ll see how to go about it’. I started hitting well and the momentum started turning towards us. The partnership (136) was the best I’ve had. I think Kallis thought that I might lose my concentration so he was focussing on that. We didn’t talk much about the chase but the focus was on staying out there,” he added.
After Bisla departed, Shakib Al Hasan and Manoj Tiwary saw the team home with the latter hitting two boundaries off Dwayne Bravo in the last over. Bisla was named the man of the match in the final for his excellent innings which included eight boundaries and five sixes.