Rajasthan Royals would be utterly gutted with the outcome of the final of the IPL 2022. A team that cost its consortium around $60 million and changed its colours from aquamarine blue to pink and blue in 2019 to spread cancer awareness and to align its ethos with pink city Jaipur, went down to the first-timer Gujarat Titans, putting up only a semblance of a fight in the presence of a physical audience that spilled over one lakh at the majestic Narendra Modi Stadium at Motera on Sunday.
All-Round Hardik Pandya Leads Gujarat Titans to IPL 2022 Title in Debut Season
The Royals’ batting failed to deliver the goods in a collective way, and eventually it lost by seven wickets to a team led by an individual who strained every sinew to prove his fitness, and undertaking with the ball. Hardik Pandya was the object of scorn during the last year’s ICC Men’s World Twenty20 in the United Arab Emirates because of his inability to bowl. But the all-rounder from Baroda grabbed the opportunity the new franchise team Gujarat Titans presented to him and become a hero on the big day of the league.
The Royals fell by the wayside once Hardik took the ball soon after the first strategic time out. The Titans had deployed fast bowlers Mohammed Shami, Lockie Ferguson, and left arm seamer Yash Dayal in the first six over powerplay and the curmudgeon like leg spinner Rashid Khan.
The Royals’ openers, the run making machine Jos Buttler and left-hander Yashasvi Jaiswal (233 runs together in nine previous innings) repelled the Titans attack initially before the Mumbai southpaw fell trying to hit Dayal beyond the deep square leg fielder. At 60 for 1 and at a strike rate of seven an over, the Royals would have looked to score in the 170-180 band, but the talismanic Pandya virtually changed the course of the final with a controlled burst. He bowled four overs on the trot after a getting rid of his counterpart in the second ball he sent down.
Pandya conceded a mere single in his first over and four in his second, good enough to persuade himself to run in to bowl the third over. And this particular decision turned out to be the game changer. He challenged Buttler around the off stump channel and struck a jackpot. Once Buttler departed to make the Royals’ score 79 for 4, the game was virtually in the Titans’ pocket.
Pandya dispatched Shimron Hetmyer whose leading edge was taken by the bowler himself. His 3 for 18 in four overs was the centre piece to the Titans’ domination in the first session that began after a closing ceremony show by Ranveear Singh and AR Rehman.
While Pandya exploited the pitch to cause an implosion in the Royals ranks, two spells of two overs each from the ever probing Rashid Khan applied the brakes on the Royals charge and its objective of posting a formidable total. The Titans took charge of the match in spite of the early departure of Wriddhiman Saha.
Metamorphosis of Hardik Pandya – Once the Find of IPL, Now Its Crowning Jewel
Clearly the Titans were a few notches above their rival in the championship match. And Pandya made the all-important difference leading by example which Samson could not. He chose to bat first, but refused to change his approach and gifted his wicket cheaply. Samson’s failure to show restraint in the title deciding match and his dismissal was a massive factor that choked the Royals. Buttler and he were the real big hitters of the team and their exits turned out to blows that the likes of Devdutt Parikkal, Riyan Parag and Shimron Hetmyer could not repair.
The Royals began the season with Buttler and Jaiswal as openers, but turned to Buttler and Padikkal to maximise its potential in the powerplay. The Buttler- Padikkal combination produced 366 runs as against the Buttler- Jaiswal combination that delivered 264 runs. The Royals had retained Jaiswal with a clear-cut thought of pairing him with Buttler and not Padikkal whom the franchise bought at the auction.
The addition of two teams to the league and the auction resulted in the exit of David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Shivam Dube and Liam Livingstone from the team. The Royals found the likes of Miller and Tewatia in the Titan’s ranks. In the league match played between the two at the DY Patil Stadium, Pandya had played a controlled knock of 87 not out and Miller, a quick unbeaten 31. Both contributed with the bat in the final.
The Royals bowling could not defend 130. Trent Boult saw a catch spilled in the first over by Yuzvendra Chahal of Shubman Gill who anchored the Titans chase with a steady 45. Did the Chahal lapse make a difference? Perhaps not because the Titans had the firepower to surmount a small total.
There were no hints of stage fright after Samson won the toss and chose the option of posting a target for a franchise that had made its debut in the league and paraded its talent to top the 70-match preliminary league. The immediate past clash between the two had ended in a humdinger with Miller tonking three sixes off seamer Prasidh Krishna in the 20th over. The victory in the final made it a 3-0 sweep for the Titans.
A mixed bag team led by Shane Warne, and which gave a great start to the pioneering Twenty20 competition in 2008, the Royals won ten out of 16 before the final in which Pandya played a big hand with the ball and bat. The Royals lower order, from the fifth wicket pairs, was ordinary. It averaged around 21 for the fifth and sixth wicket partnerships, 26 for the seventh and eight for the eighth.
Reaching the final points to a concerted effort by the franchise to improve; the Royals had Kumar Sangakkara and Lasith Malinga in the support staff group. But the Royals need to get some runs in the lower order get to better totals.
The champion teams like Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders had an off colour tournament. They did not qualify for the playoffs. Next year the story could be different, and the Royals would be pressed hard to maintain consistency that only Samson can provide by changing his perspective about his batting approach. This season the matured display by Buttler — 863 runs — was the reason for the Jaipur team reaching the final.
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