Gujarat Titans wins the IPL 2022.
GUJARAT IT IS! The new team, the new entrant manages to lift the trophy in the first year itself. Outstanding display from them. Just brilliant. They were the best team in the tournament and they have shown why! For the third time they have managed to beat Rajasthan in this edition and this win is probably the most convincing and the sweetest.
Gujarat Titans are the new IPL champions as they defeated Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets by 7 wickets in the Narendra Modi Stadium in the Indian Premier League.
In the title clash, Gujarat Titans were the much better team after Hardik Pandya led from the front. GT lost two early wickets but Hardik stitched a 63-run stand with top-scorer Shubman Gill (45 not out) to steer his side to victory in the final and wear the champions' crown. David Miller, who was one of the heroes for GT in a successful campaign, remained unbeaten on 32.
Hardik Pandya was sensational with the ball, taking 3 for 17 off 4 overs to destroy the Rajasthan Royals batting line-up. He picked the key wickets of Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler and Shimron Hetmyer to keep them to 130 for 9 off 20 overs.
Rashid Khan was brilliant once again. He was difficult to get away on a slow pitch and finished with 1 for 18 off his four overs. Sai Kishore also picked two wickets as GT rounded off a clinical performance with the ball.
Chasing 131 for an IPL trophy in their debut season, the Titans got off to a poor start when Prasidh Krishna removed Wriddhiman Saha for 5 off 7 balls. Saha has had a good time with GT this summer but he failed in the playoffs - in Qualifier 2, he had been dismissed for a duck.
Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya added 63 for the 2nd wicket before Yuzvendra Chahal removed the Gujarat Titans captain for 34 off 30 balls. Pandya's innings was punctuated with 3 fours and 1 six in what was a true captain's knock.
The pair was calm even after losing two early wickets and backed themselves to rotate the strike and punish the bad balls in a partnership which dashed RR's hopes of a second IPL triumph.
After Hardik Pandya's dismissal, Shubman Gill was joined by David Miller and both batters took Gujarat Titans across the finish line to mark jubilant celebrations at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
