In a tournament as long as IPL, a team's success can't be termed as fluke, especially of those who are set for finals. And this season was arguably the toughest competition for the 4 playoff spots.
IPL 2022 Finalists - Gujarat Titans & Rajasthan Royals- may have different strengths and weaknesses, but they had one thing in common- a bunch of proven or talented players trying to get into the reckoning. But they were all not attracting many eyes when the season started.
Almost, all of them had a point to prove as they have been discarded from their previous franchises and most of those have been able to get success that has led their respective teams to play the summit clash. Let's have a look at few of them-
Yuzvendra Chahal has not been a regular feature in Indian limited overs side in recent times, he has already missed out in the squad of WT20 2021. Playing for a new franchise with the WT20 2022 is not far away, Chahal is set for the crown of most wicket taker in the season. Job done by the canny leg spinner.
Ravichandran Ashwin has played a handful of Limited overs matches for India in past few years and he is someone who is termed as perished from this form of the game. But the experienced fellow has been tremendous for Royals this season with the ball.
To add on, he has even contributed considerably with the bat. He may not have been among lots of wickets , but his economy rate of 7.35 is the best among Rajasthan Royals bowlers. 185 runs with the bat at a strike rate of 146.83 has not been less than gold for Royals who, at times, looked short on batting.
Sanju Samson is ever talented and trying to be in the reckoning for a long time. With the spot of MS Dhoni in limited overs side is still up for grabs, a breakthrough season could make things smoother for the promising lad, and he has almost done it. 41 more runs will make IPL 2022 the best season so far for Sanju.
For the Royals skipper, it may look like an ordinary season when we see that he has scored only a couple of half centuries. But actually he is well in the race of finishing at number three in the list of most run getters this season.
Precisely, if he scores 65 runs in the final and David Miller and Hardik Pandya fail to score big, the former will finish at number three only behind Jos Buttler and KL Rahul. His quick cameos throughout the season has brought fruition for his team. In terms of six hitting, he is at number 5 with 26 sixes in 16 innings.
David Miller remained unsold in the first round of the mega auction held prior to the season. But later in the auction, Miller created a little bidding war between the two finalists of the season before Gujarat Titans finally sealed the deal at INR 3 Cr.
A regular feature in international cricket for South Africa, Miller wasn't able to make a famous name in the prestigious IPL after featuring in the tournament 10 times already prior to this season. Looking at Titans' squad after the auction, it was expected that Miller is going to get enough chances as a specialist batsman as Gujarat was short of specialist batsmen in their ranks.
This was a massive opportunity for the southpaw to get good recognition at the IPL and he has taken the throw with both hands. Having already scored most runs in any season of IPL, Miller can finish the season being third highest run getter of the season, for which he is in competition with Samson as talked above. So far in the season, Miller has scored 449 runs at an incredible 64.14 with a strike rate of 141.19.
Wriddhiman Saha was beleaguered with many sorts of troubles when IPL 2022 was ready to take place. Saha was purportedly discarded from the Indian Test team for future and he was never in the lines to play limited overs cricket for the nation. Amidst all this, a poor IPL season could completely shut the door for the Bengali wicketkeeper to play his trade at any recognisable stage.
Now, we are at the final of IPL 2022, and Saha is one of the forces of Gujarat Titans which Rajasthan Royals have to compete with. Among those who played as many or less matches than Saha, only Rajat Patidar has scored more runs than the Titans' opening batsman. It is not said that Saha has achieved anything big but he has surely been able to sustain his presence at least in the IPL.
Shubhman Gill is someone who has been regarded as a very talented bloke. IPL has been one of the criteria for the young Indian players to get distinction required to break into the Indian team.
Gill has been featuring in the IPL since 2018, but he has been unable to present his case firmly as a T20 batsman due to low strike rate. Though he had scored 400+ runs in previous two seasons, those came at a strike rate below 120. And many were sceptical of Titans' move to pick Gill as one of their three players prior to the auction.
But in this season, Gill, though not fully, has been able to catch eyes with his striking batsmanship. His strike rate has improved significantly as he scored runs in this season at a strike rate in excess of 135. In terms of runs scored too, he is close to eclipsing his previous best of 478 runs which he scored in the previous season only for KKR.
