IPL 2015 - Top knocks

As Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma hoisted the Indian Premier League trophy for the second time at the Eden Gardens on Sunday to cap of a memorable comeback, the eight edition of the lucrative T20 league drew to a close after thrilling the fans for 45 days. While new names emerged and showed their prowess, the veterans had a tough time keeping up. Some things, however, did not change as Chennai Super Kings were reduced to be the bridesmaid for the fourth time, and runs continued to come thick and fast this edition also.

The edition saw the batsmen pummelling four centuries and a staggering 88 half centuries and here is Cricbuzz's list of top knocks of this season.

AB de Villiers 133 (59) vs Mumbai Indians

The 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup prompted the world to call AB de Villiers an artist, over and above a terrific batsman. His 59-ball 133-run knock against Mumbai Indians in IPL 2015 reaffirmed that the South African skipper is an artist par excellence and his craftsmanship is just few notches above the rest. To call the knock a brutal will be a gross understatement as de Villiers showed what a 360 degree player looks like. He showed off his power when needed and when the bowlers tried to outsmart him, they found out that that he was always two steps ahead of them all.

Chris Gayle 117 (54) vs Kings XI Punjab

A lot was expected of Chris Gayle and even though he disappointed early on, the much awaited big innings finally came against Kings XI Punjab in match 40 of IPL 2015, and the knock helped Royal Challengers Bangalore get to third in the points tally. Gayle blazed to 117 off 57 balls riding on two reprieves and in the process became the fourth player to score 3000 runs in IPL. Gayle combined with for an opening-wicket stand of 119 runs off only 11.2 overs and then got together for 71 runs off 5.4 overs with de Villiers.

Shane Watson 104* (59) vs Kolkata Knight Riders

Shane Watson had to miss the first four games of Rajasthan Royals and when he was fit to play, rather unfortunately RR started to slump. The added responsibility of captaincy was taking a toll on his batting and he decided to relinquish it and roared back to form in grand style to power his team in to the play-offs. His 59-ball 104, against a quality bowling attack of Kolkata Knight Riders, was laced with shots of authority and excellent running between the wickets. Not brutal or flashy but mature and effective.

Andre Russell 51 (21) vs Kings XI Punjab

Andre Russell smashed the joint fastest fifty of the season as Kolkata Knight Riders pulled off a one-wicket win over Kings XI Punjab to jump to the top of the IPL table. Russell has been the most valuable player for the team and his blistering knock was one of many match-winning performances he put in this season. Walking in to bat at 83 for 4 and asking rate at over 12 runs per over, the big West Indian

Rohit Sharma 50 (26) - Chennai Super Kings

Rohit Sharma's counter-attacking brilliance after the early fall of Parthiv Patel rocked Chennai Super Kings and the 119-run stand between him and Lendl Simmons (68) proved to be the difference between the two teams. Riding on the scorching start, Mumbai Indians went on to post 202 and a disciplined bowling effort led them to their 2nd IPL title. After starting the tournament with an unbeaten 98 at Eden Gardens, the Mumbai skipper rounded off the stunning season with another one of his special knocks.

Honourable mentions:

It is really tough when you have a plethora of knocks to choose from as the best knocks and it would not do justice to the list if there is no mention of this years Orange cap winner David Warner. Warner hit as many as seven fifties en route to his 562 runs and it was his 28-ball 61-run knock against CSK on a slow that stood out the most that helped Sunrisers Hyderabad defeat CSK.

Young guns Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya and Deepak Hooda too made their presence felt. For his 439 runs in his debut year, Iyer was adjudged as the best young talent and his match-winning 83-run knock against Mumbai Indians helped Delhi Daredevils pummel the eventual champions. Pandya stole the show in the later half of the tournament with his scintillating eight-ball 21 to help MI clinch a thriller against CSK and then bettered it with a 31-ball 61 against KKR.