Indian Premier League 2022 Final, GT vs RR: Captain Fantastic Hardik Pandya’s Sensational Spell In IPL Final. Watch | Cricket News

Having led Gujarat Titans to the Indian Premier League (IPL) final in their maiden season, Hardik Pandya put on a captain’s display with the ball in the summit clash against Rajasthan Royals at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad as he got rid of their three biggest batters – Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson and Shimron Hetmyer. Samson and Buttler were rebuilding well for the Royals after the wicket of opener Yashasvi Jaiswal when Hardik came in to bowl the ninth over. With just his second delivery of the match, the Gujarat Titans skipper had his opposite number Samson caught out for 14 off 11 after he skied an attempted hoick.

Watch: Hardik Pandya gets wicket of opposition skipper Sanju Samson

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Then, with the first ball of his third over, he got Buttler to edge one behind with a lovely delivery in the channel outside the off-stump, sending the season’s leading run-scorer packing for 39 off 35.

And then, in his final over, he took a simple return catch to dismiss the Royals’ best bet in the death overs, Shimron Hetmyer. The West Indies southpaw fell for just 11 off 12 deliveries.

It was a stunning display of bowling as he bowled his quota of four overs on the trot, finishing with figures of 3/17.

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He will finish the season with a tally of 8 wickets from 15 matches.

His brilliant spell helped the Titans restrict Rajasthan Royals to 130/9 in 20 overs, after Samson won the toss and elected to bat.