Is Rajasthan Royals out of IPL 2022: Can RR qualify for IPL final 2022?

Is Rajasthan Royals out of IPL 2022: The Gujarat Titans (GT) advance through to the grand finale of IPL 2022, with a win over RR.

During the ‘Qualifier 1’ fixture of the ongoing 15th season of the Indian Premier League at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, the Gujarat Titans (GT) have blown away the Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 7 wickets, to advance towards the grand finale in what is their maiden season in the marquee league.

En route the target of 189, the GT were handed a blow only on the second delivery of the chase, when the in-form Wriddhiman Saha, headed back to the pavilion at the score of naught.

However, the chase got well on track as Matthew Wade (35 off 30) joined hands with Shubman Gill (35 off 21) to stitch together a 72-run stand for the second wicket in mere 42 deliveries.

With 50 runs required off the last five Overs, the match clearly titled in favour of GT, with 7 wickets still in the bank.

However, some clever use of variations by Trent Boult and Obed McCoy, meant that they did not hand their opposition that one big Over which was needed to seal the deal. Resultantly, the equation boiled down to 16 required off the final 6 deliveries.

But, three back-to-back Sixes smashed by the in-form David Miller (68* off 38) off the first three deliveries bowled by Prasidh Krishna, meant that Gujarat had their flight tickets booked for the grand finale of IPL 2022 in front of their home crowd in Ahmedabad.

All in all, the match-winning partnership of 106* runs off mere 60 deliveries between Miller and skipper Hardik Pandya (40* off 27) for the 4^th wicket, snatched victory from the RR clutches.

David Miller hit those last 3 consecutive sixes and kept chewing his gum so nonchalantly like he was playing gully cricket and not an IPL semi final at a packed Eden Gardens. Great temperament & talent #IPL2022

— Viren Rasquinha (@virenrasquinha) May 24, 2022

Is Rajasthan Royals out of IPL 2022

A hard-to-swallow loss for sure for the RR on a challenging pitch to bat on, but the road is not over as yet for the Sanju Samson-led team in IPL 2022.

They will get another shot at claiming a place in the grand finale, when they would face one of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) or Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in ‘Qualifier  2’ on May 27, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

The winner of today’s ‘Eliminator’ match between RCB and LSG, would face RR next, as the latter would get one more chance to make it through to the final (on May 29), courtesy of finishing amongst the top-2 sides after the end of the league stage.

Another loss in the ‘Qualifier 2’ as well, and RR would crash out of IPL 2022.

UPDATE: With RCB defeating LSG by 14 runs in the ‘eliminator’, RR would face the former tomorrow (May 27) for a spot in the grand finale on May 29, alongside the Gujarat Titans.

About the author

Gurpreet Singh

Gurpreet Singh is a Cricket writer at The Sportsrush. His platonic relationship with sports had always been there since childhood, but Cricket managed to strike a special, intimate nerve of his heart. Although his initial dream of playing the sport at the highest level couldn't come to fruition, Gurpreet did represent the state of Jharkhand at the under-14 level. However, almost like taking a pledge to never let the undying passion for Cricket fade away even a tad, he made sure to continue the love relationship by assigning the field of journalism as an indirect Cupid. He thus, first finished his bachelor's in journalism and then pursued the PG Diploma course in English journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC). Soon after and since 2019, he has been working at The Sportsrush. Apart from sports, he takes keen interest in politics, and in understanding women and gender-related issues.

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