IPL 2022, Qualifier 1 GT vs RR, Stats Review: GT’s highest score in the powerplay, Sanju Samson’s unwanted record, and other stats

Chase masters Gujarat Titans (GT) continued their solid form as they reached a total of 191, chasing a target of 189 against Rajasthan Royals (RR) thanks to a blistering knock from David Miller, who remained unbeaten on 68 off 38, with three fours and five massive sixes, to seal a place for his side in the final in their debut season. Jos Buttler’s innings of 89 off 56 went in vain as RR lost the encounter by seven wickets in Qualifier 1 of IPL 2022 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Rashid Khan was the star with the ball for GT as he bowled a brilliant spell of 0/15 in four overs.

Talking about how the match panned out, skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and his side elected to field first. Sanju Samson lost his 13^th toss in 15 games and now holds the unwanted record of losing most tosses in an IPL season. Yashasvi Jaiswal got out for just three runs while Samson played a good hand of 47 off 26. Devdutt Padikkal looked in a hurry as he smashed 28 off 20 before getting out to Hardik Pandya.

Shimron Hetmyer and Riyan Parag both scored four runs apiece but Buttler stayed at the crease till the last over to take his side to a huge total of 188/6 in 20 overs. Chasing 189, Wriddhiman Saha got out against Trent boult for a duck in the first over while Shubman Gill and Matthew Wade both amassed 35 runs each. In a horrible mix-up, Gill got run-out which brought captain Hardik into the middle. He looked in good touch as he kept scoring runs without taking any risk.

Miller then joined him and both got settled in pursuit of the run-chase. Hardik remained unbeaten on 40 off 27 as the duo added 106 runs for the fourth wicket to successfully chase down the target and claim a spot in the big final. With this loss, RR will now face the winner of the eliminator clash between Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Qualifier 2 on May 27 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. For his game-changing and match-winning innings of 68*, finisher Miller won the Player of the Match award.

Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers from Qualifier 1 between Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League 2022:

 8053 – Jos Buttler reached the landmark of 8000 runs in T20 cricket. He became the third England player after Alex Hales (9471) and Luke Wright (8368) to achieve the feat.

15 – Trent Boult equaled Praveen Kumar at the second spot for picking up most wickets (15) in the first over in the IPL. Bhuvneshwar Kumar tops the list with 20 scalps to his name.

13 – Sanju Samson lost the 13^th toss in 15 matches this season and he now holds the record of losing most tosses in an IPL campaign. MS Dhoni had lost 12 tosses in the year 2012.

718 – Buttler has now scored the sixth-most runs (718) by a player in an IPL edition.

64/1 – GT recorded their highest score of 64/1 in the powerplay. Their previous best was 59/0 against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

449 – David Miller has now scored the most runs (449) in an IPL edition. Previously, he had amassed 446 runs in the year 2014.

40 – R Ashwin conceded the most runs in an innings this campaign. Previously, he had leaked 39 against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

106* – David Miller and Hardik Pandya scripted the second-highest fourth-wicket partnership of 106* in this edition. David Warner and Rovman Powell are on top for scoring 122* against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

8 – The eighth player got dismissed as a run-out for GT which is the second-most by a team this campaign. Mumbai Indians top the chart with 13 run-outs.

16 – GT chased down 16 runs in the last over, which is the most successfully achieved by a team in the final over of an IPL playoff match. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) had scored 13 against Delhi Capitals in last year’s qualifier.

2 – For the second time, RR spinners failed to pick up a wicket in IPL 2022. The other instance came against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

3004 – Samson reached the milestone of 3000 runs for RR in all T20s.

149 – Wade has scored just 149 runs in nine innings at an average of 16.55 with no fifty in this edition.

707 – Buttler also completed 700 fours in the T20 matches.