IPL 7: Saha, Pandey should have been joint Man-of-Match, says Saha's coach

Wriddhiman Saha celebrates his century on Sunday. Pic/PT

Wriddhiman Saha's coach Jayanta Bhowmick believes his ward should have been declared the joint man-of-the-match of IPL-7 final along with Kolkata Knight Riders' Manish Pandey on Sunday.

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Wriddhiman Saha celebrates his century on Sunday. Pic/PT

Kings XI Punjab, riding on Saha's quickfire 55-ball 115 (10 fours and eight sixes) put on a massive 199-4 in the allotted 20 overs. In reply, KKR chased the target with three balls to spare - thanks to Pandey's 50-ball 94 (seven fours and six sixes).

"Wriddhiman played exceptionally well. He scored more runs than Pandey, he hit more fours and sixes than Pandey. But I fail to understand why most of the time the man-of-the-match award goes to the winning side," Bhowmick questioned.

"If they wanted to reward Pandey, Wriddhiman should also have been announced as a joint winner," he added.

'Saha didn't disappoint'
Bhowmick said he had asked Saha to play the innings of his life and he didn't disappoint, "I spoke to him on the eve of the match and told him to play the innings of his life and he did that. I told him to play an innings which would be remembered by everyone and that is what he did.

"Wriddhiman came into bat at a difficult time when his team had lost two wickets for merely 30 runs and he could mange to take the target to 200. It was a brilliant knock and I would have been happier if his team had won the final," he said.

"His confidence level is high now and we hope he performs well in Bangladesh," he added.