Only twice in the first eighteen editions of the IPL has a team been set 190 or more in a final and gone on to win it. Both times that team was the Kolkata Knight Riders, and the first of those nights came at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on 27 May 2012, in a stadium built to make visiting sides feel small. Chepauk had hosted the 2011 final twelve months earlier and watched Chennai Super Kings win it by 58 runs. In 2012 the same ground, the same opponent and a target of 191 produced the opposite result, and it was delivered by a wicketkeeper who was not even supposed to be in the side.
Manvinder Bisla made 89 from 48 balls that evening. He had come into the tournament as a reserve wicketkeeper, he was opening the batting in a final by circumstance rather than design, and by the time he was caught at deep midwicket in the fifteenth over he had turned the most intimidating chase in IPL final history to that point into a formality. Chennai's 190 for 3 had felt, for roughly forty minutes, like a winning total. This is the story of how it stopped being one.
The night Chepauk turned
Chennai build a total that should have been enough
Chennai Super Kings won the toss on 27 May 2012 and batted, which at Chepauk in May was less a decision than an instinct. The start was measured rather than explosive: 54 without loss in the six-over powerplay, with Murali Vijay and Michael Hussey content to let the surface reveal itself. The sixth over went for 19 and hinted at what was coming, but Kolkata's bowlers kept the first ten overs honest — after ten, Chennai were 86 for 0.
Vijay fell for 42 from 32 balls with the score on 87 in the eleventh over, ending an opening stand that had done exactly what a final demands: no risk, no wickets, a platform. What followed was the passage that should have decided the match. Suresh Raina came in and played the innings of his IPL final career, 73 from 38 balls with three fours and five sixes, a strike rate of 192. He and Hussey added 73 in 41 balls for the second wicket. Hussey departed for 54 from 43 balls with the score at 160 in the eighteenth over.
Chennai scored 54 from their last five overs and finished on 190 for 3, Raina falling to the final delivery of the innings, caught by Brett Lee off Shakib Al Hasan. MS Dhoni was unbeaten on 14 from 9. In eighteen IPL finals to date, only six first-innings totals have been larger. Kolkata's most expensive bowler was Brett Lee, who went for 42 in his four overs; their most economical was Rajat Bhatia, three overs for 23. Sunil Narine, the mystery spinner who would be named Player of the Tournament for the 2012 season, bowled his four overs for 37 and took none — one of the quieter footnotes of a night full of loud ones.
Kolkata lose Gambhir off the sixth ball
Gautam Gambhir, Kolkata's captain and the man who had led them out of five years of dysfunction, was bowled by Ben Hilfenhaus for 2 on the final ball of the first over. Kolkata were 3 for 1, chasing 191, at a ground where Chennai had lost only rarely in the preceding four seasons. The required rate had already climbed to 9.89.
What happened next is the reason the 2012 final is remembered at all. Bisla and Jacques Kallis put on 136 for the second wicket from 82 balls. The fourth over of the chase went for 20. Kolkata reached the end of the powerplay at 56 for 1 — barely ahead of Chennai's 54 for 0 — and then simply refused to slow down. Kallis, thirty-six years old and playing the anchor role he had made his own, made 69 from 49 with seven fours. Bisla did the damage: eight fours, five sixes, and a willingness to hit through the line on a surface where most batters were working the ball into gaps.
Bisla goes, and the game gets interesting again
Bisla was caught by Subramaniam Badrinath off Albie Morkel with the score on 139 in the fifteenth over, having faced 48 balls. Kolkata needed 52 from 32 — comfortable by modern standards, less so in 2012, and Chennai still had Dwayne Bravo and Ravichandran Ashwin to bowl.
Chennai squeezed. Laxmi Ratan Shukla went for 3 at 152 in the seventeenth. Yusuf Pathan, the man whose hitting had won Rajasthan the 2008 final, lasted two balls for 1 and fell to Ashwin at 164. Kallis was caught by Ravindra Jadeja off Hilfenhaus at 175 in the nineteenth over. Kolkata were 175 for 5 with seven balls left and 16 still required, and the noise at Chepauk had returned.
Sixteen off seven, and a no-ball
Hilfenhaus, who finished with the best figures on the ground — four overs, 25 runs, two wickets — bowled a no-ball with two deliveries of his final over remaining. Shakib Al Hasan hit the last ball of that over for four. Eleven came from it, and Kolkata went into the twentieth needing 9 from 6 against Bravo.
Manoj Tiwary faced the third and fourth balls of that over and hit both for four. Kolkata finished on 192 for 5 in 19.4 overs, winning by five wickets with two balls to spare, and Kolkata Knight Riders were champions of the IPL for the first time in their fifth season. Bisla was named Player of the Match. Bravo's figures read 3.4 overs for 49.
The numbers behind the chase
Two things stand out in the ball-by-ball record. The first is that the required rate peaked at 10.3 an over after three overs and never climbed above 10.0 again — the Bisla-Kallis stand was not a rescue, it was a pre-emption. The second is that Kolkata were in front for most of it: Chennai were 136 for 1 after fifteen overs, Kolkata 141 for 2 at the same point.
Batting — IPL 2012 final, MA Chidambaram Stadium
| Chennai Super Kings — 190/3 (20) | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SK Raina | 73 | 38 | 3 | 5 | 192.1 |
| MEK Hussey | 54 | 43 | 4 | 2 | 125.6 |
| M Vijay | 42 | 32 | 4 | 1 | 131.3 |
| MS Dhoni (not out) | 14 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 155.6 |
| Kolkata Knight Riders — 192/5 (19.4) | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MS Bisla | 89 | 48 | 8 | 5 | 185.4 |
| JH Kallis | 69 | 49 | 7 | 1 | 140.8 |
| Shakib Al Hasan (not out) | 11 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 157.1 |
| MK Tiwary (not out) | 9 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 300.0 |
| LR Shukla | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 50.0 |
| G Gambhir | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 50.0 |
| YK Pathan | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 50.0 |
Bowling
| Bowler | Team | O | R | W | Econ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BW Hilfenhaus | CSK | 4 | 25 | 2 | 6.25 |
| R Bhatia | KKR | 3 | 23 | 1 | 7.67 |
| Shakib Al Hasan | KKR | 3 | 25 | 1 | 8.33 |
| JH Kallis | KKR | 4 | 34 | 1 | 8.50 |
| SP Narine | KKR | 4 | 37 | 0 | 9.25 |
| JA Morkel | CSK | 4 | 38 | 1 | 9.50 |
| SB Jakati | CSK | 4 | 38 | 0 | 9.50 |
| B Lee | KKR | 4 | 42 | 0 | 10.50 |
| R Ashwin | CSK | 4 | 41 | 1 | 10.25 |
| DJ Bravo | CSK | 3.4 | 49 | 1 | 13.36 |
Big totals in IPL finals — defended or chased
Eight finals between 2008 and 2025 produced a first-innings total of 190 or more. Only two of them were chased down in full, and Kolkata are responsible for both. Chennai's 2023 win came against a rain-revised target, not the 214 on the board.
| Year | First-innings total | Result | Chased? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | CSK 205/5 | CSK won by 58 runs | No |
| 2012 | CSK 190/3 | KKR won by 5 wickets | Yes |
| 2014 | KXIP 199/4 | KKR won by 3 wickets | Yes |
| 2015 | MI 202/5 | MI won by 41 runs | No |
| 2016 | SRH 208/7 | SRH won by 8 runs | No |
| 2021 | CSK 192/3 | CSK won by 27 runs | No |
| 2023 | GT 214/4 | CSK won by 5 wickets | Revised target (DLS) |
| 2025 | RCB 190/9 | RCB won by 6 runs | No |
The 191 Kolkata chased in 2012 stood as the highest successful chase in an IPL final for exactly two years, until Kolkata themselves broke it in the 2014 final at Bengaluru, overhauling 200 against Kings XI Punjab. No other franchise has done it once.
Legacy — why 2012 still matters
The 2012 title changed what Kolkata Knight Riders were. Through the first four seasons the franchise had been the IPL's most-discussed and least-successful property, a team defined by captaincy churn and off-field noise. The 2012 campaign produced 12 wins from 17 matches including the playoffs and, at the end of it, a trophy won away from Eden Gardens against the reigning back-to-back champions on their own ground. Everything the franchise has built since — the 2014 title, the 2024 title, the identity as a side that trusts spin and low-ego professionals over marquee names — traces back to that night at Chepauk.
It also marked the beginning of the end of an era for Chennai. The 2012 final was their third consecutive final and, at that stage, they had reached four of five. They would return in 2013 and 2015 and lose both, and it was not until 2018 that the trophy came back. Chennai's five titles remain the joint-highest in IPL history alongside Mumbai Indians, and their ten final appearances are the most by any franchise — but 2012 is the only IPL final they have lost on their own ground.
There is a neat symmetry in where the two franchises ended up. Chepauk hosted the final again in 2024, and Kolkata won there for a second time, beating Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets. Three of the twenty-two players who took the field on 27 May 2012 are still on IPL rosters in the current era: MS Dhoni, still at Chennai; Sunil Narine, still at Kolkata, the franchise he debuted for in that 2012 season; and Ravindra Jadeja, who played that final in yellow and has since moved to Rajasthan Royals.
For a modern audience, the most interesting thing about the 2012 final is how badly a pre-match model would have called it. Chennai batting first at Chepauk, defending 190, with two titles in the previous two seasons, would have been priced somewhere near 70 per cent favourites on almost any historical prior. CricMind's Oracle engine weights venue record, head-to-head history and recent form heavily for exactly this reason — and it would have been wrong, because none of those seventeen factors can see a reserve wicketkeeper hitting five sixes. That is the permanent gap between a probability and a result, and it is why the Oracle publishes a confidence score alongside every prediction rather than a verdict alone.
Three takeaways
- A 190 total in a final has been chased twice in eighteen years, and Kolkata Knight Riders did both. The 2012 chase of 191 and the 2014 chase of 200 are the only two instances; every other 190-plus final total has been successfully defended.
- The match was won in the powerplay, not the death. Kolkata lost Gambhir off the sixth ball and still reached 56 for 1 after six overs, ahead of Chennai's 54 for 0. The Bisla–Kallis stand of 136 in 82 balls meant the required rate never became the story.
- Squad depth decided a final. Bisla was not a first-choice opener when the 2012 season began, and his 89 from 48 balls remains one of the highest scores by a wicketkeeper in an IPL final.
Frequently asked questions
Who won the IPL 2012 final?
Kolkata Knight Riders won the 2012 IPL final, beating Chennai Super Kings by five wickets with two balls to spare at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, on 27 May 2012. It was Kolkata's first IPL title.
What was the score in the 2012 IPL final?
Chennai Super Kings, batting first after winning the toss, made 190 for 3 in their 20 overs. Kolkata Knight Riders chased down the target of 191, finishing on 192 for 5 in 19.4 overs.
Who was Player of the Match in the 2012 IPL final?
Manvinder Bisla, the Kolkata wicketkeeper, was named Player of the Match for his 89 from 48 balls, an innings containing eight fours and five sixes at a strike rate of 185.4.
Who top-scored for Chennai in the 2012 final?
Suresh Raina made 73 from 38 balls with three fours and five sixes, the highest score in the Chennai innings. Michael Hussey made 54 from 43 and Murali Vijay 42 from 32.
Was 191 the highest successful chase in an IPL final?
It was at the time. The 191 Kolkata chased in 2012 stood as the highest successful run chase in an IPL final until 2014, when Kolkata chased 200 against Kings XI Punjab in the final at Bengaluru. Those remain the two highest successful chases in IPL final history.
Who hit the winning runs in the 2012 IPL final?
Manoj Tiwary hit consecutive fours off Dwayne Bravo in the twentieth over, sealing the chase on the fourth ball with two deliveries to spare.
Which bowler had the best figures in the 2012 IPL final?
Ben Hilfenhaus of Chennai Super Kings, with two wickets for 25 runs from his four overs at an economy rate of 6.25. He bowled Gautam Gambhir with the sixth ball of the innings and had Jacques Kallis caught in the nineteenth over.