The Rajasthan Royals won the inaugural Indian Premier League in 2008 with a squad that was considered ragged. They had an inspiring leader, who was instrumental in turning a bunch of nobodies into a triumphant unit, who was pulled out of retirement from international cricket.
It is possible that this is the first time since the first season of the IPL that Rajasthan Royals are in the finals. In many ways, the batter with most runs in the league is Jos Buttler of the Rajasthan Royals, and the bowler with the most kills is Yuzvendra Chahal of the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
After finishing second in the league, they lost to the GT and ended up playing the winner of the Super Giants tie. If they were thrashed by GT, they won their second match by a wide margin.
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— Gujarat Titans (@gujarat_titans) May 27, 2022
The Royals have reached this far on the back of Buttler's blazing blade and a democratically operating bowling unit that didn't necessarily look match-winning in the beginning but has combined well through the course of the season.
Buttler's domineering presence as an opener made up for the weaknesses in the batting middle order. Buttler did most of the heavy lifting, besides a few useful knocks from captain Sanju Samson. He has been a part of the Royals unit since the beginning of the year and has averaged nearly 60 with a strike rate of about 150.
There is a belief that the GujaratTitans can go all the way.
Buttler is third in the list of batters with the most runs in a single season, behind David Warner and Virat Kohli. If he scores a big century in the final to bridge the 149-run gap with Kohli, he would get to second spot.
Rajasthan would like to repeat the feat of taking the match away from Bangalore within the first 10 overs of the chase, which he did on Friday.
Kumar Sangakkara, director of cricket for the Royals, told Star Sports that he couldn't remember anyone batting this well in the history of the league.
The bowling team came together to get them to the finish line. Two of their bowlers came up with their best figures in the match that mattered. In his first season in the Indian premier league, Obed McCoy has 11 wickets and his best in an effort of 3-23 against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Prasidh Krishna, who is in his first season with the team, has 18 strikeouts from 16 matches but his 3-22 against the Royal Challengers helped restrict them to 157.
Chahal's 26 at an economy of under eight runs an over was one of the best in the tournament, along with the 12 wickets of Ashwin at an economy rate of 7.35 made it one of the best spin combinations in the tournament. The fact that he had a half-century to his credit, and batting higher up in the order to give them more variety, is a good sign.
The Gujarat franchise, led by a Gujarat-born Hardik Pandya, should play its first-ever final in Ahmedabad.
The best team in the league so far has been the GujaratTitans, who have lost just four of their 15 matches. Most of their victories have been comfortable, and whenever they have gotten in trouble, they have found a hero to bail them out.
Gujarat started their campaign well, winning their first three matches before losing to Sunrisers Hyderabad. They ran into trouble against Punjab Kings. When the team needed 19 off the last over and 12 off the last two balls, they had David Miller with them. The job was done with two sixes.
In their sixth match against Chennai Super Kings, they were 16-3 when Miller walked in. His 94-point performance was match-winning, but he found an odd ally in spinner Rashid Khan, who is known more for keeping things tight as a bowler of unreadable leg-spins. The stand-in skipper, Khan, cracked a 40 off 21 balls to set up Miller's last over flourish that took them past the total off the last ball.
It wasn't going to be a good idea for GT to avenge their loss to SRH with 56 needed off the last four overs. The two guys got into the act again, pulling off a last-ball win.
GT needed a small miracle when they were down 95-4 in 13th over chasing 170. Miller and Tewatia pulled off a run that was rare to watch.
Khan decided he needed to prove a point with his bowling. He has 18 wickets in the season at a miserly 6.73 runs an over. After GT crawled to 144-4 against Lucknow Super Giants, Khan got four of them to bowl out the opposition.
GT have an all-round team that springs heroes as per need, with Pandya and Miller already sixth and eighth among scorers and Mohammed Shami and Khan ninth and tenth among bowlers with most wickets.
Miller, who was acquired by Gujarat for Rs 3 crore, has 499 runs from 15 matches at an average of over 64 and a strike rate of 141, but the team has rested him. LSG's Deepak Hooda bats above Miller, who comes in at No 3-6.
Miller's finishing has been so effective that GT has won most of the time.
The Royals have lost to Gujarat in both their meetings, but you get the impression that the team that’s taken a longer, harder route to the top, deserves to win more. Or at the least, do it for Warne.You can download your money calendar here and keep your dates with your moneybox.
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