IPL 2022 | RR vs GT – Superstar, Under-performer of the Match

Gujarat Titans (GT) locked horns with Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the 24th match of IPL 2022 at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai. Gujarat continued their good form in the match, winning by a margin of 37 runs. Notably, they have now won four out of their five matches and are at the top of the points table, while the team from Pink City faced their second defeat of the campaign.

Superstar of the Match

The captain of Gujarat, Hardik Pandya, had a great time in the match. He performed brilliantly in all aspects of the game and deservedly is the ‘Superstar of the Match.’

Batting: Hardik Pandya walked out to bat when the Titans’ score was just 15 for two. They required a more than handy contribution from the skipper, and he provided just that. 

Hardik played a perfect captain’s knock. Pandya was not afraid to take calculated risks from the beginning of his innings and thus kept the scoreboard ticking. 

Let us look at how Pandya went about building his innings

Table: Hardik Pandya Strike Rate vs GT

Observation: Throughout his knock, Pandya maintained a strike rate of over 150. He looked in control during his entire stay. He manipulated the opposition bowlers at his will and added dynamism to Gujarat’s progression.

Abhinav Manohar, too, complemented Pandya in a supporting role, and a late flourish from Miller helped Gujarat reach a formidable total of 192 runs in their 20 overs.

Bowling and Fielding: The biggest positive for Gujarat (and India as well) is Hardik Pandya - the bowler. In this match, also he bowled 2.3 overs for 1 for 18, where he conceded just one boundary and bowled four dot deliveries. 

Apart from that, the GT skipper picked the all-important wicket of James Neesham. The Kiwi was the lone batter remaining at the game stage, and his departure sealed the game for the Titans. 

Besides that, Pandya also affected the dismissal of Sanju Samson with a brilliant effort in the field. The run-out of Samson was a crucial one, as it is known to all that if Samson stayed longer, he could build on the momentum that Jos Buttler’s thunderstorm gave. 

This all-round show from the Gujarat Titans captain makes him the ‘Superstar of the Match.’

Under-performer of the Match

Bowling: The experience of Ravichandran Ashwin is a massive asset to the RR team. They take tremendous pride in having the on-field presence and game reading awareness of the Indian all-rounder. 

He has been a successful T20 bowler over the years and generally picks up wickets in the middle overs while bowling economically. 

On an average day, this is what is expected from Ravi Ashwin:

Table: Ashwin’s average bowling figure

But in the four overs last night, Ashwin conceded 33 runs without picking up a wicket. This allowed the Gujarat team to go about their business freely. As Ashwin could neither put the brakes on the opposition’s scoring rate nor provide RR with a wicket, the pressure never built on the Gujarat batting lineup. And of late, it has been evident that the off-spinner has struggled to see a batter back. 

Batting: After his steady knock of 28 from 23 in the last match, he was sent at number 3 in the previous game to do the same. One could say sending Ashwin first down was a tactical blunder, but he was one of the prime reasons Rajasthan failed to sustain the momentum made by Buttler’s 24-ball 54. 

Statistically, someone like a Kuldeep Sen or a Jimmy Neesham gave more runs than the spinner, but Ashwin’s overs allowed Gujarat to ease the pressure, making Ashwin our ‘Under-performer of the Match’.