RR to take on GT in the Final
While the Gujarat Titans will hope to win their maiden title in their debut season, Rajasthan Royals will try to fight to win the final after a long wait since 2008.
When IPL started over two months back, nobody would have believed that two captains walking out for toss in the title clash will be Hardik Pandya and Sanju Samson.
Hardik took to leadership guided the team to the top of the points table with his brilliant performances.
Miller, who played his best cricket at least five years back, showed his 2.0 version that stunned one and all. Tewatia showed that those five sixes in Sharjah wasn't a mere flash in the pan.
Rashid Khan knew that he would be read well, so he became all the more parsimonious. Wriddhiman Saha who had reached a dead-end in his career got a new lease of life and at least one more season to look forward to.
On Sunday, expect the crowd to chant "Aava De" and that's the impact that Titans have had on their fans.
For Titans, if this is about carving a niche in-front of home crowd, Rajasthan would like to do it for someone, who would be watching up from the stars.
Shane Warne, Rajasthan's forever first Royal had used the IPL stage in its inception year to show Australian cricket establishment what Ian Chappell had always maintained : "Shane Warne was the best captain Australia never had".
Thirteen summers have gone but there is no Warne in flesh and blood to watch his beloved team complete a cycle of life and sport.
Sanju is perhaps one of those rare Indian cricketers, who has a massive fan following despite not having played even 20 international matches for the country.
In terms of talent quotient, there is little to choose between Sanju and Hardik.
Sanju's batting like a pendulum swinging between heroism and insanity.
One ball, he can audaciously flick Kagiso Rabada or a Josh hazlewood for a six and the next delivery could be an atrocious shot that would make his biggest supporter tear his hair in frustration.
It is not easy to lead a pack that has bonafide stars like Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jos Buttler, Trent Boult along with young guns Yashasvi Jaiswal or Prasidh Krishna but Sanju has handled it well.
It will be one hell of a battle where Buttler with 800-plus runs will not only fight a Lockie Ferguson or a Yash Dayal but also withstand crowd pressure of about 1,11,000 fans would be cheering for the hosts.
Similarly, Shubman Gill would like to own the big stage and show what he can do when the canvas is as large as the IPL final.
Prasidh Krishna is a handful when his team bowls first but how will he react against a rampaging Miller if he has to defend in a tense situation?
There will be heroes, there will be heartbreaks but above everything, perhaps a contest that everyone will remember for ages.
Full Squads:
Gujarat Titans: Hardik Pandya (c), Abhinav Manohar, David Miller, Gurkeerat Singh, B Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Matthew Wade, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Wriddhiman Saha, Alzarri Joseph, Darshan Nalkande, Lockie Ferguson, Mohammed Shami, Noor Ahmad, Pradeep Sangwan, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Varun Aaron, Yash Dayal.
Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (c), Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent NSE 1.86 % Boult, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Riyan Parag, KC Cariappa, Navdeep Saini, Obed McCoy, Anunay Singh, Kuldeep Sen, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel, Tejas Baroka, Kuldip Yadav, Shubham Garhwal, James Neesham, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rassie van der Dussen, Daryl Mitchell, Corbin Bosch.
Th match starts at 8:00 pm.
(Inputs from PTI)
