IPL 2022

Excellent knocks by David Miller (68 not out off 38) and Hardik (40 not out off 27) led Gujarat Titans to the final of IPL 2022 in their debut season with a convincing seven-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals in Qualifier 1 at the iconic Eden Gardens on Tuesday. Miller and skipper Hardik batted sensibly and stitched an unbeaten partnership of 106 runs for the fourth wicket. Gujarat will now play the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad in front of a large crowd.

Miller and skipper Hardik batted sensibly and stitched an unbeaten partnership of 106 runs for the fourth wicket. Gujarat will now play the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad in front of a large crowd. A fighting fifty by Jos Buttler (89 off 56) and Sanju Samson's attacking knock (47 off 26) powered Rajasthan Royals to 188/6 in 20 overs. Apart from Buttler and Samson, Devdutt Padikkal (28 off 20) also made a valuable contribution with the bat for Rajasthan, after being invited to bat first.

Apart from Buttler and Samson, Devdutt Padikkal (28 off 20) also made a valuable contribution with the bat for Rajasthan, after being invited to bat first. Put into bat first, Rajasthan lost the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal in the last ball of the 2nd over of the innings. Jaiswal, after a painful 8-ball 3, nicked a wide Yash Dayal delivery through to the keeper and then walked despite the umpire not hearing anything.

Table-toppers Gujarat made just one change in their team as Alzarri Joseph came in place of Lockie Ferguson for this important clash. "We're gonna bowl first. Looks a decent track to bat on, but no matches in the last couple of months and just want to know what we are chasing," said Hardik at the toss.

With high-pressure situations being the norm in the lucrative league, du Plessis, who has played a vital role in the side making the grade in IPL 2022, added that maintaining sanity in the dressing room is something which isn't easy. And with him not reacting to situations, he ensures players are in the right environment and right mental frame to perform their task.

Hardik Pandya-led side now has a chance to make their debut IPL season even more memorable when they face inaugural winners Rajasthan Royals in a clash for a direct ticket to the final on Tuesday at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The team which wins Qualifier 1 on Tuesday goes straight into the final while the team on the losing side will get another shot at making the final when it faces the winner of the match between teams placed third and fourth in Qualifier 2 at Ahmedabad.

The 23-year-old Arshdeep finished the IPL 2022 season with 10 wickets from 14 matches, with his best being 3/37, and an economy rate of 7.70. He was rewarded for his consistent performance in the domestic season and the IPL by being included in the squad to face the Proteas in the five-match series beginning in New Delhi on June 9.

"We couldn't stitch two back-to-back wins. We lost wickets in a cluster, and that at times derailed us. We have played an aggressive brand of cricket overall. We are going to sit and discuss now after the IPL. We were here to get two points and we were here to enjoy ourselves. We meant business and looked to execute things to the best of our ability," said Agarwal after the match.

Coming into this game, Brar had picked just one wicket in four matches but here against Hyderabad, he turned the match for Punjab. But Brar didn't have the best of starts in IPL 2022's final league match. Abhishek Sharma, his team-mate in domestic cricket for Punjab, pulled his second ball on the backfoot over deep midwicket for a six in his first over which brought nine runs for no wicket.

In the pursuit of 158, Jonny Bairstow began with five boundaries off Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Washington Sundar in the first two overs. Despite getting a reprieve from Umran Malik in the second over, Bairstow couldn't make much of the chance as left-arm pacer Fazalhaq Farooqui flattened his off-stump.