Sydney Thunder 181-7 (19.3 overs, Khawaja 70, Stoinis 3-30) beat the Melbourne Stars 176-9 (20 overs, Pietersen 74, Watson 2-17) by three wickets with three balls to spare.
The Sydney Thunder are Big Bash 5 champions, after claiming victory by three wickets in a thrilling final against the Melbourne Stars.
The match at the MCG lived up to the hype, where the Thunder chased down 177 to claim victory, with man-of-the-match Usman Khawaja leading from the front once more with 70. Khawaja ended the tournament with 345 runs from his four innings, and it was his opening partnership of 86 alongside Jacques Kallis which put the Thunder in position to chase down the lofty total.
For the Stars, Kevin Pietersen was superb with the bat once more, striking 74, but late wickets in their innings stemmed the flow of runs when they looked in position to set close to 190 for victory.
Coming into this year's tournament, the Thunder had the worst record of any Big Bash side, with just five wins from four season's of the tournament taking place. The turnaround this year has been huge and to reach the summit, they have put in some fantastic performances to give captain Michael Hussey the send-off he deserved.
Watson knocks over openers to keep Stars in check
With the likes of Glenn Maxwell and James Faulkner unavailable due to international selection, the Melbourne Stars were always likely to rely on their top order for the bulk of their runs.
In the second over of the match, opener Marcus Stoinis had been removed for five after being caught by Andre Russell off the bowling of Shane Watson. The wicket bought Pietersen to the crease, who got in the grove from ball one looking to take the attack to the Thunder.
It took until the seventh over for the second wicket to fall, and Watson was the bowler once more, managing to find the inside edge of Luke Wright's bat, with the ball cannoning back into the stumps to end his innings on 23. The wicket didn't slow Pietersen down though, with the Englisman taking a liking to the Thunder spinners, smashing them down the ground for a couple of huge sixes.
Stars collapse late on after Pietersen falls for 74
With Pietersen at the crease, the Stars looked on for close to 200 at one point in their innings due to the way he was commanding the bowlers. After reaching 74 from 38 balls, he mistimed a push back down the ground off the bowling of Chris Green, giving Green a tame catch off his own bowling.
With Rob Quiney falling in similar circumstances an over later off Russell, it was left to the lower order to get the Stars up to a match-winning total. Evan Gulbis (16) and Adam Zampa (15) did their best, before both batmsen fell in the final over, with the run-out of Daniel Worrall off the final ball of the innings completing a team hat-trick for the Thunder.
That set up a chase of 177 for the Thunder, which was almost identical to the score they scored when the two sides met in the same venue earlier in the competition.
Thunder make dream start thanks to opening stand of 86 between Khawaja and Kallis
Chasing 177 in a final was never going to be an easy task, but the Thunder made the perfect start in their chase. Khawaja looked in sparkling form once more, with the returning Kallis also doing in his part in an opening stand of 86.
Khawaja was timing the ball supremely, but he did survive a close LBW call which replays showed should have been given when he was trapped in front by Gulbis when on 37.
The partnership was eventually broken when Kallis was caught at long-on by Pietersen for 28 off the bowling of Zampa. One wicket bought two, with Watson following Kallis back to the dug-out soon after after being caught for six off Stoinis.
Stars fight back as Sydney wickets start to tumble
With the required run-rate starting to rise, the Stars got the games key wicket of Khawaja thanks to an unlikely source.
The home sides captain Dave Hussey bought himself on to bowl, and it paid dividends straight away when a short-wide delivery was slapped straight to point by Khawaja, leaving the Thunder still over 50 runs short of the winning total.
Mike Hussey and Russell both got themselves in for the Thunder before giving their wickets away, which gave the Stars a glimmer of hope.
Rohrer smokes winning six to give Thunder memorable double
Aiden Blizzard played a great cameo, hitting three boundaries from his seven deliveries before being run out by Michael Beer for 16, with Green then losing his wicket on the penultimate ball of the penultimate over with five runs still needed for victory.
It was left to Ben Rohrer to get the Thunder across the line, and he did just that. With Worrall steaming in, Rohrer managed to squeeze two from the first ball of the final over, before smashing a long straight six off the third ball to give the Thunder victory.
With the fireworks going off all around the MCG, the Thunder playersed to the pitch to celebrate their first Big Bash title.
It was a memorable day for everyone at the club, with the Sydney Thunder team winning the first women's Big Bash final earlier in the day against the Sydney Sixers. Miraculously they also won their final by three wickets with three balls remaining, and the two Thunder sides shared celebrations after their impressive double.
In the post match ceremony, it was announced that Adelaide Strikers batsman Travis Head was voted as the tournament's Young Gun, with the Player of the Tournament going to the Brisbane Heat's Chris Lynn.