Gujarat Titans clinch their 1st IPL Title in their first-ever Indian Premier League 2022 season beating Rajasthan Royals by 7 wickets.
New Franchise, new players, first season, and first title. What a story this has been for the Gujarat Titans. No less than a dream run.
On the evening of 29th May, the world’s largest cricket stadium, Narendra Modi Stadium, was all set to host the most important match of IPL 2022, The Finals. It was Rajasthan Royals, the first IPL Champions, who were up against the newbies of the league, Gujarat Titans.
Earlier, Royals’ captain Sanju Samson won the toss and decided to bat first. They got off to a fine start by Butler and Jaiswal. But GT came back stronger and kept on taking wickets at regular intervals. Captain Hardik Pandya led from the front by dismissing Jos Butler, Sanju Samson, and S Hetmyer. Hardik bowled his career-best figures in IPL (4-0-17-3). Other bowlers also contributed to the team’s brilliance. Sai Kishore took 2 wickets while Shami, Yash Dayal, and Rashid Khan took 1 each. Meanwhile, L Ferguson bowled the fastest delivery of the match & tournament, hitting 157.3 kmph. Royals were unable to gain momentum throughout the innings resulting in a low score of 130-9.
So, the Gujarat Titans required only 131 runs in their 20 overs to win the League. Though you can never predict the game of cricket till it is finished. Rajasthan had 5 wicket-taking options in their bowling. Opener Saha and M Wade were dismissed cheaply by P Krishna and T Boult respectively. Rajasthan started their bowling well. Also, S Gill was dropped by Y Chahal in the first over itself. But after that, Pandya’s calmness along with S Gill laid the foundation for the chase. They build the innings very well as there was no pressure on run-rate whatsoever. After scoring important 34 runs, Pandya was dismissed by leggie Y Chahal. This wicket confirmed the purple cap for the Indian leggie, Y Chahal. Then came big man D Miller. He seemed to be in a hurry to finish the game. Miller scored 32 runs off just 19 deliveries.
The winning runs came from the bat of S Gill who hit O McCoy for a huge six towards the square leg boundary. As soon as he hit the ball, he knew ‘this is the moment. That roar from young Gill told the cricketing world that Gujarat Titans never came here just to participate. They came to conquer one of the biggest cricketing leagues.
Gujarat Titans chased 131 runs in 18.1 overs with 7 wickets in hand. Hardik Pandya who was leading an IPL team for the first time grabbed his first trophy in as many attempts. This IPL will be remembered for J Buttler’s heroics and Gujarat Titans’ finishing. This ends the incredible IPL 2022. Now the fans have to wait for another 10 months to get entertained by their favorites.