The Indian Premier League final last night was supposed to be a battle of the power players Virender Sehwag, Glenn Maxwell, David Miller, Robin Uthappa and Yusuf Pathan.
But an unheralded duo without any Twenty20 International experience – Wriddhiman Saha and Manish Pandey – stole the thunder from the big names at the Chinnaswamy Stadium with their batting brilliance.
Saha, the Kings XI Punjab wicketkeeper-batsman took on the best bowling side in this year's IPL and battered a 55-ball 115 while the 24-year-old Pandey set up Kolkata Knight Riders’ second title victory with a 50-ball 94.
Both innings gave evidence of the batsmen’s mental fortitude to rise to the big occasion and deliver under extreme levels fo pressure.
When most of his team’s batsmen were floundering during the UAE leg, Pandey was the leading scorer for Kolkata with 144 runs in five matches.
But once the Indian leg began and Uthappa began his superb run with the bat, Pandey’s form took a dive with just 163 runs in 10 matches.
Yet, captain Gautam Gambhir persisted with the player, who was the first Indian to score a century in the IPL four years ago.
And how Pandey repaid that faith, standing tall when all other batsmen in the side, including Uthappa, failed to get going in the grand finale.
The Kolkata man was also aided by his knowledge of the pitch, where he has played most of his cricket since his first class debut for Karnataka in 2008.
Saha’s story runs along similar lines, the only difference being he has already donned the national colours while Pandey is yet to make it to the Indian team.
The 29-year-old was certainly not spectacular in either of the past six IPL seasons when he turned out for Kolkata and Chennai Super Kings, scoring 442 runs in 47 matches with a highest score of 59.
But assured of a regular spot with Punjab, Saha has churned out his best display in the IPL, scoring 362 runs in 17 games.
Unlike Pandey, Saha had already proved his match-winning ability during IPL 7 with a 26-ball 54 against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Last night, he took it a step further with a defiant knock just when Kolkata were threatening to turn it into a one-side contest.
Punjab were struggling at 58-2 in 10 overs with Kolkata’s ace spinner Sunil Narine (1-0-2-1) in ominous form having dismissed Punjab captain George Bailey with his first ball of the match.
But Saha not only handed Narine his worst hiding of the season (1-46), but also ensured Kolkata did not have it easy.
Saha paced his innings beautifully, judging the spinners and seamers to perfection by staying back in the crease on a slow wicket en route to becoming the first batsman to score a hundred in an IPL final.
It is unfortunate that Saha had to end up on the losing side and Pandey got all the accolades as both innings were equally good in terms of quality.