IPL 2022 final: Captain Hardik Pandya’s all-round blitz take GT to maiden title, beat RR by 7 wickets

Gujarat Titans (GT) locked horns with the one-time winners Rajasthan Royals (RR) in IPL 2022 final on Sunday evening (May 29), at the iconic Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium, Ahmedabad. In their maiden season, Hardik Pandya-led Gujarat ended on a high note by winning the elusive title and joining some big teams in the overall winners’ list. 

Opting to bat first, Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan came out with positive intent as opener Yashasvi Jaiswal took on the GT bowlers and utilised the powerplay overs. Nonetheless, he was dismissed by Yash Dayal against the run of play for a good-looking 22. Jos Buttler was at his cautious best and stitched a partnership with Sanju Samson before the skipper fell off his counterpart, trying to accelerate after some tidy overs. From thereon, Rajasthan never got going as Hardik-Rashid Khan applied the brakes with their clever bowling and change of pace to leave RR tottering at 98 for 6. Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag and R Ashwin couldn’t do much as the 2008 winners somehow managed to reach 130 for 9 in 20 overs. Hardik returned with 3 for 17 whereas Sai Kishore also chipped in with two wickets. 

ALSO READ | IPL 2022 final: BCCI claims huge world record ahead of GT vs RR clash – WATCH

In reply, Gujarat lost in-form opener, Wriddhiman Saha, early. The right-hander fell to a peach off a delivery off Prasidh Krishna as RR started with a bang. While No. 3 batter Matthew Wade started with a six, he fell to Trent Boult as GT were soon reduced to 23-2 within six overs in a moderate run-chase. From thereon, skipper Hardik and opener Shubman Gill did a good job to steady the ship, by buying some time in the middle and keeping the scoreboard ticking with some odd boundaries at regular intervals. 

However, RR kept on fighting and Yuzvendra Chahal removed Hardik by getting a big edge off his blade in the 14th over. With this, Yuzi Chahal won the Purple Cap — ending with 27 wickets — but couldn’t prevent the inevitable for his franchise. Gill was joined by David Miller as the duo ended the run-chase with ease, in front of a packed stadium — in excess of 1,00,000 people. Gill, unbeaten on 45, and Miller’s 19-ball 32 propelled GT to their maiden title by 7 wickets and 11 balls to spare.

Gujarat joined Rajasthan in an elite list to win the title in their first-ever season. 

For all the latest Sports News Click Here 

Read original article here

Denial of responsibility! TechAI is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.