IPL 2014: Final awards list

After a long IPL season, Kolkata Knight Riders were finally crowned the champions of the seventh edition of the T20 league on Sunday in Bangalore. A host of awards were handed out last night after an entertaining season.

There were suprises in Akshar Patel, who though thoroughly deserving of the award, was overshadowed by his more popular teammate Glenn Maxwell in the race for the Emerging Player title. Meanwhile, on expected lines, Kieron Pollard and Chennai Super Kings won the ‘Catch of the season’ and ‘Fairplay award’ respectively.

Let us take a look at all the awards of IPL 2014 season given away last night:

Orange Cap – Robin Uthappa – 660 Runs – 5 fifties

The 28-year-old batsman from Karnataka enjoyed a dream run in this IPL – breaking the world record for the most number of consecutive 40+ scores in Twenty-20 format. Though he would have been disappointed for not continuing that form in the final when he failed for the first time after 10 solid innings, he still had the joy of lifting the IPL trophy. Having been dominated by Maxwell show for a majority of the season, Uthappa overtook the misfiring Aussie in the latter stages, and took an overwhelming lead. This is also the first instance when an Orange Cap holder has won the title, breaking a 6-season long jinx.

Purple Cap – Mohit Sharma – 23 Wickets

Unlike the Orange Cap – that was only a 3-way fight till the end, there were many contendors for the Purple Cap. Finally, it was CSK’s Mohit Sharma who managed to edge past Sunil Narine and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the race. Despite being expensive, the Haryana bowler made up for it with important wickets for the Chennai Super Kings throught the season.

Emerging Player – Akshar Patel – 17 wickets at an economy of 6.13

Not many would not have heard of him before this IPL. Enjoying the backing of his team management who preferred the youngster to experienced Murali Kartik, this lad delivered some excellent performances announcing his arrival to the big stage with a bang. He has been awarded with a place in the Indian squad that tours Bangladesh later this month. He finished with the best economy rate in this IPL for bowlers who have bowled a minimum of 10 overs.

Catch of the season – Kieron Pollard

This IPL season has seen many spectacular catches and some very poor drops too. Considering how important the impact a brillaint catch can cause in this game, this is one proud award for a cricketer and the big man from the Carribean won this awards emerging over a tough competiton from Chris Lynn and other smart fielders.

Most Valuable Player – Glenn Maxwell

Despite fading away from the bright eye-catching performances earlier in the season, Maxwell tipped Dwayne Smith by half-a-point to win this award. He has scored 552 runs with 36 sixes and picked up a wicket.

Most sixes – Glenn Maxwell

With 36 sixes, Maxwell again won the race against Smith, who was stranded on 2nd position with 34 sixes in the tournament.

Fairplay Award – Chennai Super Kings

This is the 5th time MS Dhoni’s men are winning this award and apart from some rare animated wicket celebrations, they had been very sportive throught the season. Mohit Sharma collected the award on behalf of the Super Kings captain MS Dhoni.