IPL 7: Saha should have been joint winner of MoM award, says his coach

Mumbai: Jayanta Bhowmick, the personal coach of Wriddhiman Saha believes that the adjudicators of the IPL final should have declared the joint winners of the man of the match award on Sunday night.

Kolkata Knight Riders' Manish Pandey was declared the winner of the MoM award.

Speaking exclusively over telephone, he says, "Saha played exceptionally well in the final. 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 MoM award goes to the winning side".

"If they wanted Pandey (also) to win it, Saha should have been announced as a joint winner."

Saha scored 115 runs in 55 balls with 10 fours and eight sixes, whereas Pandey's 94 runs came in 50 balls with seven fours and six sixes.

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

"I spoke to Saha on the eve of the match and had told him to play the innings of his life and he did so. I had told him to play the match which can be remembered by all people and that is what he did so exactly."

"His confidence level had gone high now and we hope he performs well on Bangladesh tour. I am sure Saha would get a chance to play in Bangladesh. Saha is a better wicketkeeper than Robin Uthappa. Robin has been keeping wickets in the T20, whereas Saha is a regular batsman.

Wriddhiman's father, Prasanta, the goalkeeper in his days, was also disappointed with the result of the match. "We watched the final on TV and at one stage were sure of Punjab victory", he said over telephone.