Assembling a squad of experienced artists, the Titans’ team management leads the campaign; Warne’s legacy will be celebrated despite Royals’ loss
Assembling a squad of experienced artists, the Titans’ team management leads the campaign; Warne’s legacy will be celebrated despite Royals’ loss
Hardik Pandya corrected his stock price drop with a memorable IPL 2022 campaign. He led Gujarat Titans to the title for the first time as captain, performing with bat and ball and removing all doubts of injury.
The exclamation point came in the final against Rajasthan Royals on Sunday when an all-round show (3/17 and 34) earned them the ‘Player of the Match’ award.
shrewd captaincy
His shrewd captaincy was particularly impressive during the tournament, given that this is Hardik’s first foray into a key leadership role. Hardik’s appointment as captain was a surprise in itself, as the Gujarat outfit – making its first appearance in the IPL – was expected to pick a more experienced hand for the job.
Questions were also being raised about his fitness, which forced him to quit bowling over the years. Hardik had the answer in the summit clash – bowling at good pace, and keeping a tight line outside to reward the key wickets of Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler and Shimron Hetmyer.
In assembling a team full of experienced actors like Wriddhiman Saha, Matthew Wade, Rashid Khan and Mohammed Shami, the Gujarat team management solved the puzzle. The franchise was also rewarded for supporting South African batsman David Miller, who came into his own after struggling in his last five seasons.
For the Royals, a win was seen as the ideal tribute to the late Shane Warne, who led the team to the title in the inaugural 2008 edition. However, regardless of this loss, Warne’s legacy will be celebrated.
Royals opener Jos Buttler had a dream run, finishing as the highest run-scorer of the tournament. With 863 runs, Buttler became the second highest run-scorer in an IPL season behind Virat Kohli (973 runs in 2016). Rajasthan leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal took just one wicket in three playoffs, but the highest wicket-taker of the tournament played his part in the team’s run.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), under a new captain in Faf du Plessis, exceeded expectations by entering Qualifier 2. However, the dream of getting your hands on the first trophy remains unfulfilled.
By qualifying for the playoff rounds, Lucknow Super Giants – the second new team in the competition – had a lot of positives from this debut.
It was a season to forget for the most decorated sides of the IPL, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. India captain Rohit Sharma and West Indies’ Kieron Pollard were below par, which contributed heavily to keep Mumbai at the bottom of the table. Chennai did not do much better, impressed by MS Dhoni taking back the captaincy from Ravindra Jadeja.
The tournament has always given the ideal platform for new stars to emerge. This time around, uncapped pacers Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh put on a stellar performance to get their first call-up in India.
A brilliant unbeaten 112 in the eliminator against Lucknow Super Giants made RCB’s Rajat Patidar proud as the only uncapped player to score a century this year. Middle-order batsman Tilak Verma provided a silver lining to Mumbai’s dismal performance.
Left-arm pacers Mohsin Khan (Lucknow Super Giants), Mukesh Choudhary (Chennai Super Kings) and Yash Dayal (Gujarat Titans) cemented their reputation.
The festive atmosphere created by the 100,000-odd spectators at the Narendra Modi Stadium for the final ensured a grand finale.