GT vs RR, Qualifier 1 Report: Killer Miller executes again!
GT vs RR, Qualifier 1 – IPL 2022 Report: Gujarat Titans enter finals of IPL 2022 in their maiden season – thanks to yet another finishing job by David Miller.
Rajasthan Royals were put to bat and they lost their ace opener Yashasvi Jaiswal early (11/1 in 2 overs). Captain Sanju Samson walked in bashed a 26-ball 47. He put on a 68-run stand with Jos Buttler in 7.5 overs before Sai Kishore removed the RR captain.
Padikkal kept the run flow going while Buttler clearly showed intentions to play till the final over. After 16 overs, RR were 127/3 with Jos Buttler on 39 not out off 38 balls. He upped his ante in the 17th over bowled by Yash Dayal where he hit 4 fours to bring up his FIFTY in 42 balls. Buttler continued his boundary hitting spree by smacking another 3 off the next over bowled by Alzarri Joseph. In the 19th over he he was dropped by Rashid Khan when he was on 69*(49). He hit a four and six to seal the over. In the final over Buttler was run out after hitting a six off Yash Dayal. The English wicket-keeper batsman smacked 89 runs off just 56 balls and helped his team to 188/6 in 20 overs.
Chasing 189 runs to win, Titans lost their in-form batter Wriddhiman Saha for duck as Boult continued his powerplay riot with the ball. Shubman Gill and Matthew Wade steadied the situation with counter attack. The duo pit on a 72-run stand in just 7.2 overs before Gill ran himself out with a meaningless call for second which Wade denied. A few silent overs in the middle by spinners Ashwin and Chahal pumped in pressure as Matthew Wade departed scoring a 30-ball 35. Obed McCoy got a wicket first over and RR were reduced to 85/3 in 9.3 overs.
Hardik Pandya began his innings on a positive note smacking 3 boundaries off the first 6 balls he faced. GT needed 92 runs to win off the last 10 overs. Pandya and David Miller put on a very disciplined partnership taking no risks whatsoever and put the bad deliveries to boundaries. They kept the required run rate in tact reducing the equation to 60 runs to win in 6 overs.
Both the batsmen kept a clean strike rotation going and reduced the equation to 34 to win off last 3 overs. R Ashwin had a forgettable night as he conceded 40 runs in his 4 overs spell.
David Miller took on Chahal in the 18th over and hit a six reducing the equation to 23 runs to win in 2 overs. Obed McCoy delivered a crucial 19th over – conceding just 7 runs and asking GT to get 16 runs to win off the final over.
Prasidh Krishna was set to bowl the final over of the innings and David Miller took strike needing 16 to win. Miller hit 3 back-to-back sixes on the leg side and punished Prasidh for poor execution in the final over. Gujarat Titans emerged victorious with 3 balls to spare and entered the IPL 2022 final. Miller remained unbeatean on 68* off 38 balls while Hardik Pandya remained unbeaten on 40* off 27 balls. The duo put on an unbeaten stand of 106 runs in 10 overs.
The final will be played at Titans’ home Ahmedabad on May 29.
Toss: Hardik Pandya (GT) won the toss and elect to bowl
Playing XIs:
Gujarat Titans:
Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Shubman Gill, Matthew Wade, Hardik Pandya (c), David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Yash Dayal, Alzarri Joseph, Mohammed Shami
Rajasthan Royals:
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Obed McCoy
Venue: Eden Gardens, Kolkata
GT vs RR – IPL 2022 – Match Summary
RR 188-6 in 20 overs
Jos Buttler 89 (56) – 12 fours & 2 sixes
Sanju Samson 47 )26) – 5 fours & 3 sixes
Devdutt Padikkal 28 (20) – 2 fours & 2 sixes
Mohammed Shami 4-0-43-1
Yash Dayal 4-0-46-1
R Sai Kishore 4-0-43-1
Hardik Pandya 2-0-14-1
GT 191-3 in 19.3 overs
Shubman Gill 35 (21) – 5 fours & 1 six
Matthew Wade 35 (30) – 6 fours
Hardik Pandya 40*(27)- 5 fours
David Miller 68*(38) – 3 fours & 5 sixes
Result: GT won by 7 wickets
Player of the Match: David Miller
