Titanic triumph!

Skipper Hardik Pandya and star batsman Shubman Gill help Gujarat Titans blow away insipid Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets in one-sided final

Shubman Gill celebrates GT’s win with teammate David Miller yesterday. Pics/ BCCI; IPL

Hardik Pandya emulated his idol MS Dhoni as Gujarat Titans became only the second team in the Indian Premier League’s history to lift the trophy on home turf. IPL-15’s ‘no-hopers’ became champions in their very first year by crushing Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets before a record attendance at the Narendra Modi Stadium here on Sunday night. Shubman Gill (45 not out) dispatched an Obed McCoy length delivery into the stands over square leg for Gujarat Titans to break into a massive mid-pitch celebration.

On top all the way

The team that topped the table, were the first to qualify for the playoffs and the big final, ultimately clinched the title to complete a perfect script.   GT skipper Pandya was the chief architect of the final win with a brilliant match-winning spell of 4-0-17-3 and 34 off 30 balls to put their 131-target chase back on track. Pandya, who had bowled sporadically in the tournament, rose to the occasion and led from the front with a power-packed show in the all-important match.

When you see off big guns like Jos Buttler (39), RR skipper Sanju Samson (14) and Shimron Hetmyer (11), what else can one ask for? By restricting RR to 130-9—the second lowest total in an IPL final—Gujarat Titans already had one hand on the trophy. RR’s only chance to be in the game was getting early wickets. Although Prasidh Krishna and Trent Boult managed to dismiss in-form GT opener Wriddhiman Saha (5) and Matthew Wade (8) early, dropping struggling opener Shubman Gill twice (on 0 and 13) did RR no good.

Hardik Pandya (right) is ecstatic after dismissing RR’s Jos Buttler

Pandya and Gill put on a 63-run partnership for the third wicket to put GT in a dominating position once again. Samson’s prayers for a wicket were answered finally when IPL-15’s highest wicket-taker Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed Pandya (34) with a classical leg-spinner that turned sharply to take the outside edge at first slip.  This could have been a potential game-changing moment for RR, but Miller’s attacking show ensured the momentum was not lost. At the strategic timeout, GT skipper Pandya put both his arms on the South African in an animated chat.

GT didn’t want to lose it from here after being in a commanding position throughout the game. Miller’s unbeaten 19-ball 32 ensured the end was not an anti-climax. With nothing devilish about the pitch, RR batters lacked application and poor shot selection. Even IPL’s highest run-getter, Buttler was made to sweat it out during his 35-ball knock. The Englishman dug deep to tackle the ferocious pace of Lockie Fergsuon, who came in place of Alzarri Joseph. One could see what express pace can do to even an in-form batsman when Buttler completely missed a yorker that was clocked at 157.3 kph—the fastest delivery of IPL-15—bettering his own mark of 157.      

Pressure got to Jos

The pressure got to Buttler as he looked to glide one down to third man off the GT skipper, but ended up edging it to the wicketkeeper. The 1,04,859 fans erupted into a deafening roar as Buttler walked back disappointedly after ending 110 runs short of Virat Kohli’s 973-run record in the 2016 IPL. The pressure built by leggie Rashid Khan (1-18) from the other end benefitted Pandya immensely. Samson’s eagerness to get his team  off to a flying start resulted in him holding out to third man off Pandya. The soft dismissal of Hetmyer, caught & bowled by Pandya, put RR in a shell.

Brief scores

RR 130-9 in 20 overs (J Buttler 39; H Pandya 3-17, R Sai Kishore 2-20) lost to GT 133-3 in 18.1 overs (S Gill 45*, H Pandya 34) by 7 wickets