It is time for the one last battle in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. In the grand final of this year's cricket extravaganza, debutant Gujarat Titans will take on winner of the inaugural season, the Rajasthan Royals, in Ahmedabad on Sunday night. It will be a fairytale season for the champions, irrespective of who they are.
Coming into their first IPL season as one of the newly introduced franchises, the Hardik Pandya-led Titans seemed to be lacking in batting depth. Experts felt there were too many specialists in their line-up, which might hamper their balance. However, Gujarat have thrived despite this so-called 'weakness', hardly breaking a sweat en route to the final.
Rajasthan, on the other hand, have played spirited cricket from the start of the season. At times they may have seemed overly dependent on the likes of Jos Buttler and Yuzvendra Chahal, but as the tournament progressed, Sanju Samson's team has lifted their overall game to make it to the summit clash first time in 14 years.
This is going to be a battle of match-ups as well. The teams had faced off in Qualifier 1, where Gujarat edged past Rajasthan. Both teams will want to topple each other based on that recently acquired experience.
Likely XIs
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Matthew Wade, Hardik Pandya (c), David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Alzarri Joseph, R. Sai Kishore, Mohammed Shami, Yash Dayal
Rajasthan Royals: Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, R. Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Obed McCoy, Yuzvendra Chahal
Fantasy tips
- Back the chasing team to take advantage of the dew factor
- After Qualifier 1, the Rajasthan batters are likely to go after Rashid in the middle overs. That may allow him to create more wicket-taking opportunities.
- Back the likes of McCoy and Joseph to pick up wickets in the death overs.
Where to watch
Live streaming of the IPL 2022 final between Gujarat Titans (GT) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) will start from 8 PM IST on 29 May. You can watch the match on the Star Sports Network and Hotstar.