IPL 2022 Final: Gujarat Titans complete dream debut with IPL title

Nobody gave them a chance but Gujarat Titans bucking all pretournament predictions surprised everyone by lifting the Indian Premier League title in a dream maiden season after a sevenwicket victory over Rajasthan Royals in the final here on SundayGujarats highlyrated bowling attack led by skipper Hardik Pandya 317 himself limited a formidable Rajasthan Royals batting unit to 130 for nine after losing the tossShubman Gill and David Miller remained unbeaten on 45 and 32 respectively to complete an emphatic win for their team It should have been a comfortable chase but Rajasthan bowled their hearts out to make it an interesting final As they showed all season Gujarat remained calm in tough situations to finish the chase in 181 oversNot many gave Gujarat a chance in their first season especially after a mixed auction where they waited till the end to secure the services of wicketkeepers Wriddhiman Saha and Matthew WadeIt was not a team studded with star players but Hardik impressed with his leadership and got the best out of his colleagues His performance with bat and ball also contributed immensely to the teams triumph besides the ability to bounce back from any situation through the brilliance of Miller and Rahul TewatiaAfter posting an underwhelming total Rajasthan had to produce a special effort with the ball to get back in the gameThe pace duo of Trent Boult and Prasidh Krishna were brilliant in the powerplay reducing Gujarat to 31 for two with Wriddhiman Saha 5 and Matthew Wade 8 back in the dugoutKrishna got one to seam back in from good length to breach Sahas defence and crash into the stumps Boult who also bowled a maiden over in his tidy spell removed Wade Gujarat would have been three down in the powerplay if Yuzvendra Chahal held on to a simple catch of Gill off Boult in the first over of the inningsHardik and Gill struggled to get the boundaries but never felt extreme pressure as the asking rate remained very much in controlR Ashwin was introduced in the 12th over and Hardik 34 off 30 decided to go after him collecting a four and six off successive balls to bring up the 50run stand with Gill and take Gujarat to 77 for two in 12 oversThe skipper fell to a brilliant leg break from Chahal but Gill and Miller got the job done in the end The entire stadium housing more than a lakh people erupted when Gill hit the winning sixEarlier Hardik 317 struck thrice in his four overs while Rashid Khan 118 delivered yet again on the big stage to put their team on course for a title in its debut seasonRajasthan did not have the best of starts after skipper Sanju Samson decided to put runs on the board in a big finalGujarat bowlers were able to maintain the pressure on the opposition though Jos Buttler 39 of 35 and Yashasvi Jaiswal 22 off 16 tried their best to break freeJaiswal who looked tentative against the pace and swing of Mohammad Shami took more chances compared to Buttler at the start of the inningsAmong the shots Jaiswal attempted his most assuring stroke was a beautifully timed six over cover off Shami After pulling Yash Dayal for a massive six over long leg the southpaw tried one too many and was caught in the deep The extra bounce induced the mishitButtler who began his innings with a crisp square cut was joined by Samson 14 off 11 in the middleKnowing well that both the Rajasthan righthanders struggle against Rashid Khan Hardik brought the star spinner into the attack in the powerplay itselfBoth Buttler and Samson chose to play safe against Rashid as Rajasthan reached 44 for one in the powerplayThe inform Buttler decided to force the issue as he drove Lockie Ferguson over the cover fielder before cutting him for successive boundariesThe New Zealander was generating serious pace and went on to clock 1573 kmph the fastest ball of the tournamentSamson did not last long as his opposite number Hardik removed him on his second ball of the game Hardik hit the hard length and Samson went for the pull shot only to be caught on the offside leaving Rajasthan at 60 for two in 82 oversRajasthans struggles worsened when Devdutt Padikkal 2 who took eight balls to get off the mark and Buttler departed in a space of three ballsWith Rajasthan going at run a ball after 14 overs big hits were the need of the hourHowever Hardik made it 94 for five by having the dangerous Shimron Hetmyer caught and bowled Ashwin perished in the following over ending all hopes of a Rajasthan fight backThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever