Gujarat captain Hardik Pandya speaks after winning the IPL trophy.
The Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals clashed in the final of the 15th season of the IPL. Rajasthan captain Sanju Samson won the toss and elected to bat first.
The Rajasthan team was the first test of the field. Opening batsman Yashashwi Jaishwal was bowled out for 22, followed by skipper Sanju Samson who was bowled out for 14. Rajasthan scored 130 runs for the loss of 9 wickets at the end of 20 overs. Jos Buttler top-scored with only 39 runs.
For Gujarat, Hardik Pandya took 3 wickets, Sai Kishore took 2 wickets and Mohammad Shami, Rashid Khan and Yash Dayal took 1 wicket each.
Following this, Gujarat played with a target of 131 to win. Opening batsman Viruthiman Saha was dismissed for 5 and Matthew Wade for 8 in a row. However, Shubman Gill (45), Hardik Pandya (34) and David Miller (32) were the standout performers. Gujarat won the toss and elected to bat, scoring 133 runs in 18.1 overs.
Speaking on the win after the match, Gujarat captain Hardik Pandya said, "Wanted to show at the right time what I've worked hard for. Today was the day from the bowling point of view I saved the best for the best. Second ball of my spell when I got Sanju out, saw that if you hit the wicket hard and hit the seam something is gonna happen. All about sticking to the right lengths, asking the batters to play the right shots. This is the right example for any team in the world. If you can play as a team and build a good unit with genuine people around, wonders can happen. I and Ashu pa, we like to play proper bowlers. Batters can obviously chip in, but most of the time I have seen in T20 cricket - it's a batter's game but bowlers win you games. A lot of times we won the games as well, but we always spoke about what are the things we missed out and how we can get better from here. Everyone chipped in."
“Count myself lucky winning 5 finals, it's been exciting. This is going to be a special one. We spoke about creating a legacy. Generation to come, everyone will remember this was the team who started this journey and to win the championship first year is very special,” he signed off. The Gujarat bowlers showed excellent performance in this match. So it is noteworthy that the Rajasthan batsmen came out on short runs as fast as they came.