The stage is set for the final showdown. Two teams, who had different stories this year right from the auction, have made their way to the ultimate show. The perseverance, determination, grit, zeal each had on themselves has made these teams come this long. This one final opportunity would be graved with all happiness for them and there would be no stone unturned. Let us zoom into the match preview of the Tata IPL 2022 finals between Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals.
Overview:
Gujarat Titans: “We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline and effort – Jesse Owens”. 6-7 months back if you had asked or thought that this team would make their debut season memorable by storming into the finals, one would have laughed out loud. Even if you had looked at their post auction team, none would have believed. But they have mastered the formula of impossible as I-AM-POSSIBLE. Such has the zeal with the team and their first time captain Hardik Pandya has had on the team. If stepping up to the occasion is an art, then the players of GT are Picasso of it. Each and everyone have known their responsibilities and have made the fans believe that they are serious contenders to any part or situation of the competition. Their main coaching trio of Ashish Nehra, Gary Kirsten and Vikram Solanki who earlier worked for the RCB have turned the clock and made the team head in the right direction. Since the team has been doing good, expect no changes from the team and if there is to be one, then Lockie Ferguson can make way for Alzarri Joseph to tackle Jos Buttler.
Rajasthan Royals: “As a mountain of rock is unshaken by wind, so also, the wise are unperturbed by blame or by praise - The Dhammapada”. Sanju Samson fits the bill for this quote as he has matured well as a captain for the Royals by saving Yuzvendra Chahal for the death overs for few matches and using Buttler as the constant opening batter even if he succeeds or fails. The management of Rajasthan Royals after a decade have really done their homework in picking the correct set of players for the team, thanks to Kumar Sangakkara and their analyst and scouting team and everyone have performed when the situation needs. One needs to praise Samson too for believing in Kuldeep Sen against Stoinis in their match against LSG and his captain’s faith was used with full hands by the youngster. This year is very special and emotional for the Royals as their first Royal, the legendary leg spinner Shane Warne passed away due to cardiac arrest and if they win the championship, they would dedicate the same to the first Royal. Also, this is the second entry to the finals for the Royals after their entry in the inaugural edition in 2008. The Royals would also make no changes and would like to stick to the same team.
Probable Playing XI:
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (WK), Matthew Wade, Hardik Pandya (C), David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Mohammad Shami, Yash Dayal, Alzarri Joseph / Lockie Ferguson.
Rajasthan Royals: Jos Buttler, Yashashwi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (C &WK), Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Obed McCoy.
Pitch / Weather Report:
The temperature is expected to hover around 37°C on the matchday with 55% humidity and 18-21 km/hr wind speed. There are no chances of precipitation during the game.
The surface of the Ahmedabad stadium may be of varying nature depending upon the pitch that is used for the match. The red soil pitches tend to dry off sooner and assist the spinners. The spinners have had a good run in the venue as far as the past matches are concerned.
The batters usually find it difficult to get going here. The venue has seen some low-scoring games as well. The bigger boundaries in the stadium also add to the problems of batters here.
Venue: Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad
Date & Time: May 29th at 8:00 PM IST and local time
Live Streaming: Star Sports Network and Disney+ Hotstar
Interesting Facts:
- Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals have met twice in the IPL 2022 and the GT emerged winner on both the occasions. So, they have a 2-0 edge entering the final.
- Jos Buttler is the leading run scorer of the IPL 2022 with 824 runs at a S/R of 151.47 and 4 hundreds. He needs 25 runs to go past David Warner who scored 848 runs in IPL 2016 and become the second batter to have most runs in a single edition of IPL.
- Yuzvendra Chahal is one wicket away from taking back the Purple cap from RCB’s Wanindu Hasaranga. He currently has picked 26 wickets at an economy of 7.92.
- If Yuzvendra Chahal picks a wicket in the finals, RR will become only the second team to produce both orange cap and purple cap in the same year after SRH (2017). David Warner (641 runs) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (26 wickets) did this in 2017 IPL.
- If RR wins trophy, Sanju Samson will become the 2nd youngest captain to win IPL trophy (27 years).
- If GT wins trophy, Hardik Pandya will become 2nd fastest captain to win the IPL trophy (16 matches).
- GT batter Shubman Gill (46) needs 4 more sixes to reach 50 sixes in the IPL.
- David Miller of Gujarat Titans requires 77 more runs to reach 2500 run mark in the IPL.
- GT opener Wriddhiman Saha needs to score 78 runs to reach 2500 run mark in the IPL.
- GT captain Hardik Pandya needs to score 71 more runs to reach 2000 runs mark in the IPL.
- GT pacer Mohammed Shami needs 2 more wickets to reach 100 wickets in the IPL.
- GT batsman Hardik Pandya needs 7 more fours to complete 150 fours in the IPL.
- RR captain Sanju Samson is needs to score 3 more fours to complete 250 fours for RR in all T20 matches.
- RR spinner Yuzvendra Chahal needs 2 more wickets to overtake Amit Mishra as the 3rd highest wicket-taker in the IPL. Chahal has 165 wickets and Mishra has 166 wickets.
(Credits: mykhel.com and my dear cricket fanatic friends)
Dream 11 Team:
