Travis Head will play his first IPL Final tonight. The left-handed batter from Australia has become famous over the last few months because of his extraordinary performance in the ODI World Cup Final and WTC Final. Head has been playing cricket for years, but he became well-known in 2023 after his fantastic performances in the final.
It shows how much people value the performance of the finals. In 2022, Hardik Pandya led the Gujarat Titans from the front with a three-wicket haul and thirty. That performance will forever stay in the minds of the fans, just like Manish Pandey’s 94 which helped Kolkata Knight Riders win IPL 2014.
While Pandey and Pandya have also achieved some other notable feats, here’s a list of two such cricketers who are only remembered for their performance in an IPL Final.
1. Manvinder Bisla was the star of the IPL Final in 2012
Manvinder Bisla started his U-19 career in early 2000s, but he could never break into the senior Indian team. The closest he came to being selected was in the year 2012, when he starred for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the final match against the Chennai Super Kings.
That match happened at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, which was considered the den of CSK, especially when MS Dhoni was the captain. However, Bisla scored 89 runs off 48 deliveries to help KKR win the trophy.
2. Ben Cutting
Fans best remember the 2016 season for the heroics of Virat Kohli. However, the Man of the Match in that year’s final was Ben Cutting. The underrated Australian all-rounder first smashed a quickfire 39 with the bat, including two sixes and two fours off Shane Watson’s bowling. Then, he picked up the wickets of Chris Gayle and KL Rahul to help the Sunrisers win their first trophy.
