In the Final of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, Gujarat Titans (GT) defeated Rajasthan Royals (RR) by seven wickets at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Sanju Samson won the toss and asked GT to bowl first. It was a questionable decision as RR did well while chasing in recent matches. It was a blessing in disguise for the Gujarat based team as they successfully restricted the first-ever IPL champions to a below-par score of just 131/9 in 20 overs. Hardik Pandya bowled his career-best tonight and along with him, Sai Kishore also grabbed a few wickets.
In the chase, it was a rough start for GT but eventually managed to play through the first few difficult overs. Even after losing Wriddhiman Saha pretty quick in the powerplay, Shubman Gill (45*) played throughout the innings and ensured a win for GT. It was a tricky pitch, but the right-handed batsman kept calm and took his team over the victory line. Along with him, Hardik Pandya (34) also helped Gill in the middle overs as both of them put together 63 runs of partnership which was crucial at the given period of the inning. In the end, David Miller (32*) struck at 168.42 to take GT home before the 20th over.
Rajasthan Royals got off to a good start once again as Yashasvi Jaiswal (22) started scoring boundaries right from the beginning of the inning. From the other end, Jos Buttler (39) also continued his fine form in the finals. After losing both the openers, no other batter got a valuable score which could have helped RR to post a respectable total. In the end, some contributions from Riyan Parag (15) and Trent Boult (11) helped RR to reach 130/9 in 20 overs.
Captain Pandya was at his best tonight with the ball as he got three wickets. Sai Kishore also picked two wickets. Along with them, Mohammad Shami, Yash Dayal and Rashid Khan also managed to scalp one wicket each.
For RR, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal and Prasidh Krishna got one wicket each in the second innings.
Hardik Pandya was adjudged Man of the Match for his perfect all-round performance. With this win, Gujarat Titans have won the IPL title in their first season itself.
Scorecard:
Rajasthan Royals: 130/9, Overs 20, Jos Buttler 39, Hardik Pandya 3/17
Gujarat Titans: 133/3, Overs 18.1, Shubman Gill 45*, Trent Boult 1/14