(Cricket news) After a 15 year wait the RR fans can finally celebrate going into their second final and believe that they can go on to win the trophy for the late Shane Warne. On the other hand, Gujarat Titans in their first season have exceeded all their expectations and reached their maiden final, they will play in front of the home crowd where almost 1 lakh people will witness the biggest ever final.
For RR they have been riding on Josh Buttler and Yuzvendra Chahal’s brilliance, both have been the lynch pin for their franchise. Yesterday, RR was in a spot of bother but up stepped Josh Butler to score his fourth hundred of the tournament and equaling Virat Kohli’s record of 4 hundreds in a season. Although he is quite far from Virat Kohli’s unbelievable 973 runs in 2016, this season for Butler will go down in the history books for RR. The same can be said for Chahal, who has already picked up the most wickets by leg spinner with 26 wickets. He along with Ashwin have formed a deadly bowling partnership as when they tend to pick three wickets or more, they have gone on to win all the games. In the seam department, Prasidh Krishna brilliantly bounced after David Miller took him to the raptors and produced a match winning spell of 3-22 in the last match while on the other hand Trent Boult bowls the perfect line and length which makes it difficult for the batters to get going.
GT has been the surprise package this season. Before the start of the IPL all the experts and former players didn’t give them a slightest chance to reach the final but their team spirit and togetherness have brought them this far. Along with that, Hardik Pandya has led his team brilliantly and has instilled a never say die attitude in them. GT have won 7 matches in the last over this season which indicates their attitude. Miller who is now in the middle of his best IPL season has amassed a total of 449 runs at a strike rate of 141.19 at an average of 64.14 and has established himself as the backbone of the Gujarat Titans middle order.
At the top of the order, Shubam Gill and Wriddhiman Saha have formed a very stable partnership, which builds a foundation for the middle order batters to finish the job as this season, Saha has scored the most runs in the powerplay. In the bowling department, Shami has led the bowling from the front and has guided them brilliantly. Rashid Khan will be the key against Josh Buttler as their battle will be one to watch out for.
Pitch and weather report: The Narendra Modi Stadium pitch is often a good scoring venue for batters as the outfield tends to be quick. The bowlers have to hit the right length and line to stop the batters from scoring freely. The temperature is going to hover around 38 degrees as no rain is expected tomorrow, dew factor may come into play in the second innings.
Interesting facts:
- Prasidh Krishna requires 2 wickets to reach 50 wickets in the tournament.
- Yuzvendra Chahal needs two wickets to surpass Amit Mishra (166) and become the third-highest wicket-taker in IPL history
- Hardik Pandya needs to take four wickets to reach 50 wickets in the IPL
- Mohammed Shami (98) is two wickets away from reaching the landmark of 100 wickets in the tournament.
- Alzarri Joseph needs two wickets to get to 50 wickets in T20 cricket
- R Ashwin (156) needs to take one wicket to overtake Piyush Chawla as the second-leading wicket-taker spinner in the IPL.
Also read: Change in mindset against spinners key to IPL 2022 success: Miller
Probable XI for GT:
1 Shubman Gill, 2 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 3 Matthew Wade, 4 Hardik Pandya (capt), 5 David Miller, 6 Rahul Tewatia, 7 Rashid Khan, 8 R Sai Kishore, 9 Lockie Ferguson, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Yash Dayal
Probable XI for RR:
1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Jos Buttler, 3 Sanju Samson (capt & wk), 4 Devdutt Padikkal, 5 Riyan Parag, 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 R Ashwin, 8 Trent Boult, 9 Prasidh Krishna, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Obed McCoy
