How did Gujarat Titans win IPL 2022 in their debut season?

How did Gujarat Titans win the IPL 2022

After the conclusion of IPL 2022, everybody had the same questions. How did Gujarat Titans win the Indian Premier League in their first attempt? What was the special thing they did to achieve such a big feat so easily and flawlessly? I also pondered a lot on these and tried to break down the possible answers to these questions.

Gujarat Titans (owned by the CVC Capital Group) and Lucknow Super Giants (owned by the RPS Group) were the two teams introduced to the IPL in 2022 as the league expanded to 10 teams. Both teams made their first appearance in the IPL count as both of them qualified for the playoffs.

Gujarat finished first on the points table with 10 wins from 14 matches (20 points), whereas Lucknow finished third with 9 wins from 14 matches (18 points). Gujarat played Qualifier 1 against Rajasthan Royals, went into the final, and then beat Rajasthan again in the final to win that IPL trophy.

Gujarat Titans had a decent auction where they covered almost all the bases and had a pretty good team. Their head coach was Ashish Nehra (who became the first Indian head coach to win the IPL trophy) and their batting coach was Gary Kirsten. Gujarat’s squad in IPL 2022 looked like this –

Hardik Pandya (c), Shubman Gill, Rashid Khan, Sai Sudharshan, Abhinav Sadarangani, Jason Roy (replaced by Rahmanullah Gurbaz), David Miller, Matthew Wade, Wriddhiman Saha, Varun Aaron, Darshan Nalkande, Yash Dayal, Pradeep Sangwan, Alzarri Joseph, R Sai Kishore, Noor Ahmad, Lockie Ferguson, Mohammad Shami, Dominic Drakes, Vijay Shankar, Jayant Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, and Rahul Tewatia.

When you see this squad, you don’t see a lot of big names there and to win the IPL in the first attempt with a young, new squad is just commendable. Let’s talk about the reasons that led to this journey of Gujarat Titans. First and foremost, I think the pair of Ashish Nehra and Hardik Pandya did a great job.

They made each and every player in the team punch above his weight and eked out the best from everyone. Gujarat Titans had not one or two but many different stars for them the previous season. Both of them worked really hard and made sure that all five fingers of the hand worked together to lift the trophy. In the total 16 matches they played, they won 12 of them and they had 8 different man of the match players in those 12 matches which shows that this was a collective team performance.

The batting department was very well led by Shubman Gill from the top as he scored 483 runs at a strike rate of 132.3, followed by Hardik Pandya and David Miller who scored 487 and 481 runs respectively. The surprise package though was Wriddhiman Saha, who didn’t play all the matches but scored 317 runs in the ones he played.

When three of your batters cross the 450+ runs mark and one scores 300+ runs in just 11 matches, you know you have done incredibly well. The finishing duties were duly handled by Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan. Tewatia contributed for the team with the bat in almost every match which was very exciting for the team as he scored at a strike rate of 147.6 during the whole season.

The bowling department also performed really well as Shami took 20 wickets with an economy of 8 during the season and Rashid Khan took 19 wickets with a very good economy of just 6.5 runs per over. They were well supported by bowlers like Yash Dayal, Lockie Ferguson, and even Hardik Pandya.

Hardik Pandya was another positive for them and had a breakthrough season after a life-threatening back injury. He was present in all facets of the game and helped the team in whatever department they required it. Hardik, the batter, was present on the pitch whenever the team looked in trouble.

Hardik, the bowler, was always there when the team needed a wicket in a pressure situation. Hardik, the captain was again a treat to watch as the way he led his team was really not expected. He rotated the bowlers well, stuck with the playing 11 even after some losses, made the camaraderie among the team very well, and was the man of the match in the final.

To sum up, Gujarat Titans won their first IPL title in the very first attempt only as they played together as a team, punched above their weight, showed passion and determination on the field, never looked out of the game, and every player stood out for them and performed at crucial stages.

There were a few problems as well for them such as the lack of a proper number 3 batter and a good quality Indian spinner, but all the other players and departments didn’t allow these things to look like the team’s weakness. If they can find a proper number 3 batter, and stick with him for the whole season, I think they have all the capabilities to defend their title.