Every new season of IPL brings some new curiosity and excitement. Every season some new players make their mark while some old stars shine again. Also, many memorable and surprising records are made in every season. IPL 2026 season will be no different from this and from now on many records are being expected to be made. But there is one such achievement which till date only 3 players have achieved in IPL history. Will the fourth name be added to it this time?
What is this special record of IPL?
But IPL Is this a record? Does it contain the names of legends like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma or MS Dhoni? Have Chris Gayle, Jasprit Bumrah or AB de Villiers achieved this feat? If you also have the same questions in your mind, then the answer is – no. None of these legends have done such a feat because they were not fit for it.
Now let’s talk about the record. So this record is to win the Player of the Match award in the IPL final even before debuting in international cricket. In the history of 18 seasons of IPL, so far only 3 players have been able to do this feat. Among these, the first player who did this feat was never able to play international cricket.
These 3 players have created history
This player is Manvinder Bisla, who became the player of the match in the 2012 final. While playing for Kolkata Knight Riders, he scored 89 runs in the final and made the team win. But could never play for Team India. Then after him Manish Pandey did this amazing thing in 2014 and once again the team was KKR. In this final, he made the team champion by playing an inning of 94 runs. A year later, in July 2015, he made his ODI and T20 debut for Team India.
The third name in this list is all-rounder Krunal Pandya. Krunal, who was the player of the match in the final of IPL 2025, had won this award earlier also and at that time he had not made his international debut. Krunal then won the title for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2017 by playing an inning of 47 runs in the final and became the player of the match. One and a half years later, his T20 International debut took place in November 2018.