Hardik Pandya Leads Gujarat Titans to Maiden IPL Victory in 2022
Hardik Pandya guided debutants Gujarat Titans to a resounding victory in the IPL final against Rajasthan Royals in 2022 Season.
The captain’s exceptional performance, including three crucial wickets and a vital 34 runs, propelled the Titans to a comfortable win over Rajasthan Royals, who managed to score 130 runs.
Rajasthan Royals 130 for 9 (Buttler 39, Hardik 3-17, Sai Kishore 2-20) lost to Gujarat Titans 133 for 3 (Gill 45*, Hardik 34, Miller 32*, Boult 1-14) by seven wickets.
In front of an enthusiastic home crowd of over 100,000 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya shone both with the ball and at bat as he guided his team to IPL success. Hardik destroyed the Royals’ lineup in a spell of 4-0-17-3 after losing the toss on the surface that was used for Friday’s second qualifier. He also dismissed Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, and Shimron Hetmyer.
Particularly for a thin batting lineup that included R Ashwin, Riyan Parag, Trent Boult, Obed McCoy, Prasidh Krishna, and Yuzvendra Chahal from Nos. 6 to 11, the damage proved irreversible.
Wriddhiman Saha and Matthew Wade were removed early in the Royals’ 130-ball defense, but Hardik, the batter, stopped them cold with 34 off 30 balls. After Hardik was dismissed by Chahal in the 14th over, with the Titans 45 runs from victory, Shubman Gill and David Miller coolly completed the brilliant work that Hardik had started.
The powerplay dasher for the Royals, Yashasvi Jaiswal, took eight balls to get off the ground on Sunday. Jaiswal pumped Mohammed Shami down the ground and over extra-cover for boundaries after he erred fully. But in just 16 balls, Yash Dayal had him dragging a pull to deep square-leg for 22.
In the powerplay, Buttler dragged himself to 10 off 14 balls and unable to find a higher gear for the duration of his 35-ball stay. Samson had to take chances at the opposite end because of the openers’ delay. Samson shaped to line up Hardik’s hard length after hitting two fours in his opening three balls, the second coming via a fumble, only to fly a catch to R Sai Kishore at backward point.
Hardik persisted in hitting the tough lengths, making sure that Devdutt Padikkal was unable to score any runs off the bat against him in seven deliveries. Padikkal threw his bat at Rashid Khan and swished a catch to backward point for two runs off of ten balls, indicating that something had to give.
In the tenth over, Buttler looked poised to break free with back-to-back fours off Shami, but Hardik soon had him limply directing a catch to the keeper for 39.
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Not that Hardik was through with the ball yet. Hetmyer plopped a return catch for 11 off 12 balls to end off his spell. More positive news for India: Hardik bowled without concern of being hurt and even threw proper bouncers at over 140 kph.
The captain, Hardik, also didn’t lag behind. After Hardik removed Padikkal and Hetmyer, two left-handers, Sai Kishore was brought into the attack. Ashwin and Boult were removed by the left-arm fingerspinner in response to his coming up to bowl the 16th and 18th overs. Recognized as one of the most economical bowlers in Twenty20 cricket, Sai Kishore came into the event. His fame had grown by the end of the tournament, and he had won back-to-back IPL crowns.
Making early breakthroughs was the Royals’ sole chance to wriggle back into the game. That was done by Boult and Prasidh, who removed Wade and Saha, respectively, leaving the Titans reeling at 23 for 2 in the fifth over.
In the powerplay, Gill might have also been out if Chahal had held onto a catch at short square-leg. Gill continued to score an unbeaten forty-five off forty-three balls despite being on zero at that point. But Hardik, who was on 11 off 17 balls, smashed three boundaries in seven balls to set the Titans’ chase in motion.
Following Hardik’s outside edge, Chahal grabbed the purple hat from Wanindu Hasaranga, the other legspinner. But Miller and Gill put the finishing touches on Titans’ inaugural IPL campaign, stifling the Royals’ onslaught.
