CRICKET
IPL: Royals vs Gujarat Titans (1st Qualifier)
Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals will lock horns in the 1st Qualifier to confirm a spot in the final of IPL 2022.
This match will be played at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on 24th May (Tuesday).
Past performances
Gujarat Titans were brilliant in the league stage as they won 10 out of their 14 matches and finished at the top of the points table at the end of the league stage.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan Royals finished the first phase of IPL 2022 at the second spot with 9 wins and 5 losses from 14 games.
The Titans ended their league stage with a defeat against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their previous game.
Batting first, Gujarat posted 168-5 from their 20 overs. The skipper Hardik Pandya played a superb knock of 62* runs from just 47 balls including 4 fours and 3 sixes.
Later, RCB comfortably chased down the total in the 19th over with 8 wickets in hand.
Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis scored 73 and 44 runs respectively in the must-win game for their side.
On the other hand, Rajasthan Royals won their last game by 24 runs against Lucknow Super Giants.
Rajasthan Royals set a target of 179 runs on the scoreboard for LSG.
Yashasvi Jaiswal and Devdutt Padikkal scored 41 and 39 runs respectively for their side.
In reply, LSG managed to reach only 154-8 from their 20 overs due to an exceptional spell from Trent Boult who picked 2 wickets for just 18 runs from his 4 overs.
Match details
Teams: RR vs GT
Venue: Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Date: 22nd May, Tuesday
Time: 7:30 pm IST
Head to head record
Gujarat Titans will face the Rajasthan Royals for the second time in IPL history.
Total Matches Played: 0
RR won: 0
GT won: 1
Tie/no results: 0
Pitch Report
The pitch at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata pitch is known to support the spin bowlers.
The batters can score easy runs early on but as the match progresses, the spinners will get the maximum benefit from the pitch.
Both teams will like to chase the target in the all-important Qualifier.
GT Probable Playing 11
Wriddhiman Saha, Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya, Matthew Wade, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Yash Dayal, R Sai Kishore, Alzarri Joseph, Mohammed Shami.
RR Probable Playing 11
Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Riyan Parag, Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, R Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Obed McCoy.
Star bowler of the match
Yuzvendra Chahal has been brilliant with the ball throughout this season.
He is the purple-cap holder with 26 wickets from 14 games.
Chahal will be the key bowler on the spin-friendly pitch of Eden Gardens.
Star batsman of the match
Jos Buttler was impressive in the first 7 games of this season with 491 runs but he lost his form in the next 7 as managed to score just 138 runs at an average of just 19.71.
But the right-hander is still the leading run-scorer of the season with 629 runs and he is expected to score big runs in the Qualifier game for Rajasthan.
Star Wicketkeeper of the match
Wriddhiman Saha has played some match-winning knocks for Gujrat Titans this season.
Saha is also quite sharp behind the stumps and he will be the star wicketkeeper in this match.
Star all-rounder of the match
Hardik Pandya has impressed everyone with his batting this season.
The star all-rounder has scored a crucial half-century in the previous game for his side and is expected to shine with both bat and ball in this important match.
Who will win?
Both these sides have a strong lineup and they are aiming to qualify for the final directly while the loser will still have a chance to make it to the final.
Rajasthan has both the orange and purple cap holder of the season in their lineup and they are keen to win their 2nd IPL trophy.
Gujarat Titans have been exceptional and they have all bases covered.
They have also defeated Rajasthan Royals earlier this season. The team combination of GT is also quite better than Rajasthan.
Hence, we predict that Gujarat Titans will beat Rajasthan Royals in the 1st Qualifier of IPL 2022.