And so, after almost two months of non-stop cricket action spanning 73 matches across six venues, the 15th edition of the Indian Premier League is set for its finale. The biggest cricket stadium in the world will host the IPL 2022 final on Sunday, between the rookie team Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals.
Fittingly, the two teams that finished at one and two on the IPL 2022 leaderboard will face off in the summit clash. Which is what you want from any sporting tournament, right? The two best teams in the competition in the final?
With a seating capacity of 110,00 the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad will no doubt have a distinctly partisan crowd backing the home team, Titans, led by a Gujarati in Hardik Pandya. But Rajasthan, having dispatched the overwhelming fan favourites Royal Challengers Bangalore in Qualifier 2 at this same venue on Friday, have some momentum with them. As well as Jos Buttler, the leading run-getter of the season with 824 at 58.85 and a strike-rate of 151.47.
GUJARAT THE TEAM TO BEAT
Indeed, the manner in which Titans have dominated this IPL and captivated the cricketing public’s attention has been the story of the season, in many ways. On paper, only a handful of names stood out: Pandya, on the comeback trail from a long injury problem; Rashid Khan, the second most successful bowler in T20 cricket; Mohammed Shami, India’s Test spearhead; Shubman Gill, the hugely talented but inconsistent opener; and England’s white-ball opener Jason Roy.
Beyond these five names, it was difficult to see where Gujarat would find meaningful performances from. New Zealand quick Lockie Ferguson, whose success with another IPL franchise, Kolkata Knight Riders, was distinctly divided between Indian surfaces and those in the UAE. David Miller had not clicked in the IPL for several seasons, and since his 38-ball hundred back in 2013 had increasingly appeared somewhat of a jaded figure, stumbling through indifferent seasons with Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals.
After the player auction earlier this year, the franchise made a late dash to purchase two wicketkeepers in Wriddhiman Saha, aged 37, and Australian Matthew Wade who not long before that had been contemplating retirement from the format. And the absence of an experienced spinner to support Rashid also stood out.
One felt that if Gujarat’s four of five match-winners clicked consistently, this could be a good team. But beyond Pandya, Rashid, Shami and to a lesser extent Gill, there were doubts. And once Roy was ruled out before the tournament started, Titans looked a weaker team.
As it has panned out, Gujarat found heroes around their expected performers and became the first team to reach the IPL 2022 playoffs. Proof of this is the fact that of the 11 matches they won, the Man-of-the-Match award has been given to eight different players (Gill and Miller have twice won it).
Tewatia, offloaded by Rajasthan before the season, set the tournament alive in the first third of the season with his finishing. Miller took it a level higher with arguably the innings of the season, an unbeaten 94 off 51 balls to steal victory from Chennai Super Kings, and then in Qualifier 1 he delivered a resounding 68*off 38. Saha made a late entrance for Gujarat and his batting inside the Powerplay was pivotal for the team during a period in which Gill was struggling after starting the IPL with scores of 84 and 96.
And binding the team together has been Pandya, who has led well and, most importantly, clicked as an allrounder with 453 runs at a strike-rate of 132.84 and five wickets at 7.73 per over.
RAJASTHAN HAVE LIVED UPTO AUCTION HYPE
On paper, Rajasthan had arguably the most balanced squad after the auction. Buttler, Yashaswi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Daryll Mitchell, Rassie van der Dussen in the batting pool. Yuzvendhra Chahal, R Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Navdeep Saini in the bowling core. Coulter-Nile’s injury did not prove a major loss, for Chahal, Ashwin and Krishna, with some sporadic help from Boult and Kuldeep Sen, did the job to help Rajasthan stay in the top four.
Buttler started the IPL in ominous form, then tailed off, but still entered the playoffs as the tournament’s leading scorer with 629 runs from 14 innings, including three centuries and the most sixes (37). In Qualifier 1, which Rajasthan lost, he rediscovered form with 89 from 56 balls. That knock came in a losing cause, but in Qualifier 2 Buttler finished the job with 106* off 60 balls as RCB were eliminated in a one-sided match. Teams have had so much time to figure out how to bowl to Buttler, and yet he goes and scores 195 runs in the playoffs.
Around his success, Jaiswal has used his second chance in the league well and Samson, though up and down, has played some key innings. Padikkal has been used as opener and No 3 and 4 and has also done decently. Ashwin has been used at No 3 from where he scored his first IPL fifty, and there was a match-winning innings of 40* from 23. But it has been Hetmyer in the middle order who has been vital in ensuring RR score at the death. Where Buttler has dazzled up front, Hetmyer has quietly gone about his job lower down with a superb strike-rate of 159.25.
Chahal was at one stage the Purple Cap holder for most wickets, and though his form has tapered off the legspinner has had a superb tournament. Ashwin has not been a major source of wickets but his accuracy and economy have been instrumental. Krishna has used his height and pace to good effect, taking 18 wickets to Chahal’s 26. Boult has not had that one ‘Trent Boult match’ all tournament, and yet has 15 wickets, which means that it could come against Gujarat in the final.
LIKELY XIS:
Gujarat Titans: 1 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Matthew Wade, 4 Hardik Pandya (capt), 5 David Miller, 6 Rahul Tewatia, 7 Rashid Khan, 8 R Sai Kishore, 9 Alzarri Joseph/Lockie Ferguson, 10 Yash Dayal, 11 Mohammed Shami
Rajasthan Royals: 1 Yashaswi Jaiswal, 2 Jos Buttler, 3 Sanju Samson (capt/wk), 4 Devdutt Padikkal, 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Riyan Parag, 7 R Ashwin, 8 Trent Boult, 9 Yuzvendra Chahal, 10 Prasidh Krishna, 11 Obed McCoy
PREDICTION
Gujarat are the team to beat, no doubt, and will be backed almost entirely by the Ahmedabad crowd. They have a very good bowling attack and Miller to finish chases, plus the talismanic Pandya at the helm. Rajasthan have bounced back with victory in Qualifier 2 over RCB, and the Buttler factor is irresistible. With the franchise dedicating this season to the late Shane Warne, who led Rajasthan to the title in the first IPL back in 2008, there is reason to believe this could be their year. So there you have it: Rajasthan for the win on Sunday.
