GT vs RR Review- Indian Premier League returned to Eden Gardens in Kolkata after 3 years and as expected Qualifier 1 produced a blockbuster. The passionate crowd from the City of joy created an amazing atmosphere during the game despite their home team KKR wasn’t playing. The two best teams in this year’s edition went head to head to qualify for the finals. Gujarat Titans won the toss and elected to field first. Rajasthan needed to post a big total as Eden Gardens is known as a chasing ground.
Jos Buttler played a sensational knock to help RR post 188. In the second innings, it was David Miller who was the star of the chase for the Titans as the newbies crossed the winning line with 3 balls to spare. Winning skipper Hardik Pandya, who has won the trophy 4 times playing in the finals on all 4 occasions is confident about winning it as a captain with Gujarat.
“It is all about that we respect this game. That’s the conversation I had with Miller. Rashid has been fantastic throughout, but I am more proud of David. I told him ‘let’s respect this game.’ We goofed up against Mumbai Indians and wanted to respect the game here, even if we lose. But wanted both of us to finish,” he added.
“When we started the tournament, obviously I wanted to win. It is a dream. The four times I have reached an IPL final, I have won the tournament. I was just telling the boys,” he concluded.
Let’s look at the talking points from GT vs RR match –
Sanju Samson gave the Royals a great start in the GT vs RR game
Rajasthan’s captain looked like proving a point after not getting selected for India’s T20 side. It has not been the best of tournaments with the bat for Samson. Against Gujarat, he was in full flow right from the start. Samson played a blistering knock of 47 from 26 balls which included 3 sixes. His attacking approach helped Buttler to take some time to settle down which eventually helped them.
Jos Buttler counted on his luck
The Orange cap holder had a dip in form in the last 7 innings but had his luck on his side last night. Buttler started slowly and made 39 from 38 balls with a strike rate just above 100. In the next 18 balls, the Englishman smashed 50 to take Royal’s score to 188. Of course, some poor fielding from the Titans helped his cause.
All-round show from Hardik Pandya in GT vs RR match
Hardik was named back again in India’s T20 squad for the series against South Africa. The 28-year-old celebrated it with another all-round display in a crucial game. Pandya bowled a couple of overs to pick up the wicket of Devdutt Padikkal and during the chase, he was as reliable as ever to play an unbeaten knock of 40 from 27 to build a match-winning partnership with David Miller.
Killer Miller is back
The South African had a point to prove against his former side Rajasthan and he did it in style. Having already crossed the 400+ runs mark in this year’s IPL, Miller was once again on song for the Titans. His unbeaten knock of 68 from 38 balls reminded the old killer miller he used to be a few years back for the Punjab Kings. Miller finished the game with 3 back to back sixes in the last over to send GT to their first final in the very first outing.
