Shah Faisal
With the last two seasons interrupted by Covid
and mid-season suspensions, this season of IPL got a free license to be played
in front of a full crowd that has always remained the haul mark of played in
India; the enthusiasm of the Indian crowd in cricket matches is a rare sight
that is only witnessed in India or World Cup matches of India. The sight of 105
thousand people attending this year's final authenticates the phenomenon of
India and its love for cricket.
The season started
with two new teams added to at the back of a historical auction of INR
7,090 and 5,600 crores respectively for Lucknow Super Giants and
Gujarat Titans. The season expanded in terms of matches and a total of 74
matches were played as compared to 60 matches played every season. The season
also culminated in records in terms of boundaries and sixes scored; a total of
2018 fours were hit along with 1062 sixes which was the first time for the IPL
statisticians to witness such a count of both sixes and fours. The ratio for
sixes per match counted at 14.53 which is also the record ratio for an IPL
season. RCB conceded 147 sixes out of those 1062 sixes, which is the most by
any team in IPL history, thanks to Muhammad Siraj and Hasaranga for conceding
31 and 30 respectively.
IPL’22 remained
impressive for many young and uncapped players.
Uncapped players like Rajat Patidar, Umran Malik and Mohsin Khan were a
revelation. Mohsin khan finished as the most impactful player ahead of Buttler
while Umran Malik, after securing 22 wickets in the season, got a maiden call
in the Indian squad for T20Is against South Africa.
However, the season
belonged to two agents; Gujarat Titans and Joss Buttler. Titans won their
Maiden IPL season on the back of Hardik Pandya’s all-encompassing leadership
while Buttler mesmerized the viewers with his responsible batting and
incredible hitting abilities.
Hardik Pandya: A man for this season
Hardik Pandya was a glimmering jewel in the crown of
Gujarat Titans whose adventurous reign as captain, abstractly imitated the
story Perseus from Greek mythology. Perseus who being mortal, having no idea of
his godly powers, was given the task of killing Medusa by the King, and defying
all odds, he managed to get the sword and the flying shoes he needed and went
to take off the serpent head of Medusa while she was asleep. Pandya also,
without any previous experience and against all the expectations, went on to
raise the trophy for his team with a Man of the Match performance in the final
game.
Pandya’s run as a captain was as
impressive as any good captain in sports. His decision-making, squad rotation,
and individual performance made it impossible for other teams to get even close
to beating them. The most important aspect of his captaincy was to laud his
team for winning and accept the defeat on his own. Earlier, before the
beginning of IPL, he had said that “the philosophy for this season is that
victory is because of the team and defeat is because of me”. His attitude of
holding the team together and giving them the freedom to express themselves
presented Pandya as a strong and dependable captain, as Sunil Gavaskar later
commented that "When you have leadership qualities, it automatically opens
the door for honors at the national level to be able to captain the Indian
national team in the near future”.
Pandya’s performance was the key to
his team’s success, he finished the tournament as the top scorer for his side,
along with 8 dismissals in his limited bowling attempts. In 15 games as
skipper, he won 11 of them and scored 487 runs with a high score of 87 not
out. His man of the match award in the
final summed up his journey as the leader of his pack. He saw his team through
the ball and also led them through with the bat in the chase of 130.
However, like every team game, a
captain is not the only one who can win, it needs a team to win games and Gujarat
Titans had got the team to win games at a consistent level till the final
match. Eight different players won man of the match prizes in different matches
for their team. Every day there was a different match-winner, whether it was
batsmen like Gill; who scored 483 runs consistently as an opener, Saha; who
kept good wickets and scored 317 runs, and
Miller; who found his true identity as a hitter and finisher for GT
scoring 481 runs with 23 sixes at a strike rate of 142, or bowlers like Rashid; who, like ever, bowled as if he was bowling
in controlled settings with meticulous accuracy and low economy rates and
Muhammad Shami who carried the energy of his youth in almost every bowled he
delivered. They both collectively hunted down 39 batsmen out of the total 100
wickets taken by GT in the season. Thus the collective heroics of GT postulated
their title win as a nascent team creating history with the only second team in
IPL history to win the title in their first appearance since Shane Warne’s
Rajasthan Royals in the inaugural tournament, 2007.
Both these bowlers were supported
by other bowlers like Ferguson, and Alzari Joseph, and due to the collective
efforts of the bowlers GT bowled with the best strike rate in bowling power
play, bowled with the best economy rate in the death overs and only three
bowlers from the team conceded a 20+ runs over which is also the lowest amongst
all the team this season.
In terms of batting as a team, Gujarat
Titans chased a record seven successful chases in the last over which had never
happened for a team in any season. Of
these seven chases; five times they needed more than 10 in the last over while
three times they needed more than 50 in the last four overs.
Joss Buttler: A captain’s
fairytale choice.
Though the season concluded with everyone blessing their phrases on Gujarat
Titans and their titanic run through the tournament however it was Joss Buttler
who remained the talk of the town throughout the entire season. He storm
started his season with two centuries in the earlier games and then kept on
scoring big runs with an impressive strike rate and colossal six-hitting. Buttler of 2022 was not just a hardcore
hitter who was opening the game but, in fact, appeared a sensible knight who
understood his responsibility of taking his team home in every game even if he
had to slow down his game and rein his instincts. Buttler was the anchor and the ship at the
same time; Royals won when he scored and lost when he failed. In the first qualifier, he had to watch out
for the entire spell of Rashid khan before launching an all-out attack on other
bowlers to ensure a defendable total for his bowlers. In his high-flying batting form through the
tournament, he accumulated 863 runs at a strike rate of 149, recording the
second-highest score in a season after Virat kholi’s 973 in 2016. He also
scored four centuries in the season which is a record that he now shares with
Kholi. Besides this, Buttler also ensured to hit the ball hard and long while
scoring heavy runs, he top charted the season with 88 fours and 45 sixes which
insinuates the entertaining batting he displayed throughout the season.
Unfortunately, he was not on the winning side in the final but his batting form
and six-hitting remained the focus of viewers across the world.
Thus the addition two new teams, the title run of
Gujarat Titans and the heroic and adventurous form of Joss Buttler marked the
central points of IPL 2022 with record viewership inside and out the ground that
helped the IPL to resume its normal proceedings after a disturbing two seasons,
due to Covid 19.
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