Rajasthan Royals

Rajasthan have been a solid team in the ongoing IPL edition, which was very much evident during the league stage of the tournament as they finished at the second spot in the points table. However, Royals didn't have a great outing against Gujarat in Qualifier 1, especially because their bowlers failed to deliver under the pressure situation. They now face RCB, who are peaking at the right time in the tournament.

Chasing an imposing 188 set by Rajasthan Royals, limited-overs specialist Miller devastated the rival bowling, smashing three fours and five sixes in his unbeaten 68 as the IPL newcomers won by seven wickets. "I was a little bit nervous to be honest, but Hardik kept saying like 'you know, let's just play good cricket shots, keep hitting in the gaps'," said the South African, who enjoyed a fruitful unbeaten partnership with his skipper.

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.

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.

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.

After Devon Conway had struck a four and a six off Trent Boult in the third over, Moeen Ali, who came in at the fall of Ruturaj Gaikwad in the first over, blasted 18, 16, and 26 runs in the next three overs, dealing mostly in fours and sixes. Moeen completed a 19-ball half-century. However, the Rajasthan Royals bowlers managed to apply the brakes in the next eight overs bowled by Ravichandran Ashwin, Obed McCoy, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Trent Boult. Chennai could score only 42 runs in these overs.

Chasing a par-target of 179, Lucknow Super Giants slumped to 29/3 in the sixth over. Boult made the breakthrough for Rajasthan Royals with two wickets in the first two deliveries of the third over. Quinton de Kock (7) was the first to go as he slashed at a wide one and James Neesham took a sharp catch at point. On the next ball, Ayush Badoni (0) was out, trapped lbw by a delivery that pitched on the middle and swung in a bit.

Boult finished with figures of 2/18 from his four overs and with fellow medium pacer Prasidh Krishna (2/32) and Obed McCoy (2/35) too chipping in, Rajasthan Royals were able to restrict LSG to 154/8 in 20 overs as they chased Rajasthan's 179/6. "Happy to get swing, some days are better than others. I'm happy with the wickets. I have a simple game with the ball, I try to pitch it up and am happy to swing it," Boult said during the post-match presentation on Monday.

With Lucknow Super Giants needing a win to claim the second spot in the points table, skipper K.L Rahul was happy to bowl first as Samson won the toss and elected to bat.