Picture : Twitter / IPL
In their maiden season in IPL, Gujarat Titans to the delight of the huge home crowd at Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad won their first IPL title the Tata IPL 2022 by beating the Rajasthan Royals in a low scoring final.
Royals skipper Sanju Samson won the toss and batted first . But the GT bowlers did not give away much freedom to strike to the Royals batsmen and they felt the pressure. Royals opener Yashasvi Jaiswal started well but holed out for 16 ball 21 . Jos Buttler the man in form and orange cap holder too was tied down by GT bowlers and he fell for 39 ( 35 balls, 5 fours) . Skipper Sanju Samson once again failed when it mattered most out for 14 , Devdutt Padikkal struggled to get runs out for 2 ( 10 balls) . Shimron Hetmyer could manage ( 11), Riyan Parag ( 15) . Royals innings were in tatters and the much talked about final was heading one- way- Gujarat Titans way . The Royals huffed and puffed their way to much below par 130/ 9 in their 20 overs. A target nothing to defend to their bowling attack.
For GT, Skipper Hardik Pandya was exceptional with 3/ 17 ( 4 overs) , Mohammed Shami 1/ 33( 4 overs) , Yash Dayal 1/ 18 ( 3 overs), Lockie Ferguson bowled with sheer pace clocking the fastest ball of the Tata IPL 2022 at 157. 3 Km 0/22 (4 overs) , Rashid Khan 1/ 18 ( 4 overs) was superb again. Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore 2/ 20 ( 2 overs)
In reply , Royals the situation was simple – need early wicket and catches had to be taken. Kiwi pace Trent Boult for the Royals bowled in inspired spell and showed why he is the best in business . Boult foxed GT opener Shubman Gill early getting the outside edge only to see Yuzvendra Chahal drop a sitter. Gill would made pay Royals big time as he would remain unbeaten and see the team home later on with 45 not out ( 43 balls, 3 fours, 1 six) . Wriddhiman Saha fell for 5 . Matthew Wade fell to the impressive Trent Boult for 8. Skipper Hardik Pandya settled the nerves with a small cameo 34 ( 30 balls, 3 fours, 1 six) , David Miller in excellent form this season remained not out on 19 ball 32 ( 3 fours, 1 six). as GT romped home to their first title reaching 133/ 3 in 18.1 overs)
For Royals let down by their batting on the D- Day, bowlers gave it all. Trent Boult was impressive 1/ 14 ( 4 overs), Prasidh Krishna 1/ 40 ( 4 overs), Yuzvendra Chahal 1/ 20 ( 4 overs) , Obed McCoy 0/ 26 ( 3.1 overs), Ravichandran Ashwin 0/ 32 ( 3 overs)
