Gujarat Titans (GT) put in a thrilling all-round display to seal their place in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 Finals in their debut season with a 7-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Tuesday, May 24.
Jos Buttler (89 off 56 balls) and Sanju Samson (47 off 26 balls) put up a show of power-hitting in the first innings to help RR post 188/6 after being invited to bat.
However, Hardik Pandya (40 not-out off 27 balls) and David Miller (68 not-out off 38 balls) shared an unbeaten 106-run partnership, at the end of which Miller sealed the 7-wicket win with a hat-trick of sixes in the final over.
With 16 runs needed off 6 balls, Miller tore into Prasidh Krishna (0/40) to seal the victory with 3 balls to spare and ensure the IPL debutants will fight for the Title at their home ground in Ahmedabad on May 29.
GT’s run-chase got off to a shaky start as Trent Boult (1/38) got Wriddhiman Saha (0) caught behind on the 2nd delivery in the 1st over, sending the opener back on a duck.
But, Matthew Wade walked out to join Shubman Gill out in the middle and together the duo steadied Gujarat with a gritty 71-run partnership off 43 balls.
Despite the RR pacers finding some movement in the powerplay, both batters grabbed a boundary each against Krishna in the 2nd over before Wade smashed back-to-back fours against Boult in the 3rd over.
Prasidh responded well as he conceded just 2 runs in the 4th over. However, Boult was hit for 3 fours in the 5th over while Gill hammered Ravichandran Ashwin (0/40) for six, four and four off consecutive balls in the next over to help GT reach 64/1 in the powerplay.
Gill looked in good touch but a mix-up in the 8th over resulted in an unfortunate Run Out. Gill (35 off 21 balls) flicked a delivery from Ashwin to midwicket and was left stranded half-way down the pitch as Wade backed out of the second run and a good flat-throw from Padikkal caught him short.
Wade (35 off 30 balls) followed him to the dugout as Obed McCoy (1/40) entered the attack in the 10th over and struck immediately as the Australian pulled a short delivery straight down the throat of deep midwicket.
However, Miller and Hardik then joined forces in the middle and stitched an impressive unbeaten partnership to seal the win. Miller brought up his half-century off 35 balls in the penultimate over but saved his best for last to seal the win with a hat-trick of sixes.
Earlier at the Toss, Hardik decided to bat as Gujarat made just one change with Alzarri Joseph replacing Lockie Ferguson. Rajasthan named an unchanged Playing XI.
Yash Dayal got the early breakthrough for GT as he got Yashasvi Jaiswal (3) caught behind in the second over. However, Sanju Samson walked out and immediately got going with a four against Mohammed Shami in the 3rd over and a six and four against Dayal in the 4th over.
Samson even thumped back-to-back fours against Shami in the 5th over before smashing two sixes against Alzarri Joseph to help RR reach 55/1 at the end of the powerplay.
However, the GT spinners Rashid Khan and Sai Kishore then began slowing down the scoring and the pressure showed as Samson (47 off 26 balls) was caught out when looking to release the pressure against Kishore in the 10th over.
Devdutt Padikkal started slow but picked up the pace with a six, four and four off consecutive balls against Kishore in the 14th over. However, Hardik ended Padikkal’s (28 off 20 balls) stay in the 15th over with the RR batter dragging an off-cutter back onto the stumps.
Buttler meanwhile was scoring at an ultra-slow pace by his lofty standards and had just 39 runs off 38 balls at the end of the 16th over. However, the Englishman then unleashed his fury against Dayal in the next over with 4 fours which also brought up his fifty.
Buttler then slammed 3 fours against Joseph in the 18th over but was lucky to survive in the 19th over. Shami got Buttler to slice the 2nd ball high towards midwicket and Rashid came running in but couldn’t latch on.
Shami (1/43) still managed to get rid of Shimron Hetmyer (4) on the very next ball but could only stand as watch as Buttler continued to make hay with a four and six off the last two balls in the over.
Buttler (89 off 56 balls) smashed another six against Dayal in the final over but was Run Out when looking to sneak in a second run off the last ball. Dayal however had overstepped resulting in a no-ball and free-hit.
Riyan Parag (4) was then Run Out when trying to sneak in a single as Dayal bowled the free-hit delivery wide outside off and Ashwin managed to take just two runs off the final legal delivery as Rajasthan posted a decent total of 188/6.
First Published: May 24, 2022 11:51 PM IST
