Gujarat Titans stormed into the final of the Indian Premier League 2022 in their debut season after David Miller's blistering half-century secured a seven wicket victory against the Rajasthan Royals in Tuesday's qualifier in Kolkata.
Needing 16 off the final over from Prasidh Krishna, Miller smashed three sixes in a row to book Gujarat's place in Sunday's final at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad.
This is a sensational debut for Gujarat who topped the league stage and chased down 189 with three balls and seven wickets to spare.
The Titans were written off before a ball was bowled in the tournament, a batting line-up which was thought to lack depth has time and again kept delivering.
GT pulled off another big chase with calm as Captain Hardik Pandya played patiently (unbeaten on 40 off 27 balls) while Miller decided to thrash everything that came his way. He shared an unbeaten 106 run stand for the fourth wicket with Pandya that came in just 61 balls.
Earlier, Gujarat had got off to the worst start possible as Trent Boult removed Wriddhiman Saha with the second ball of the innings. Shubman Gill and Matthew Wade went on a counter attack and took the score to 64/1 after the end of the first six overs.
Gill posted 72 in quick time before a mix-up ended in Gill's run out for 35. At 85/3 just before the halfway mark, Gujarat had plenty of work left to do.
The pressure was released when Ravichandran Ashwin conceded a boundary apiece to Hardik and Miller in his final over. Miller also lofted Yuzvendra Chahal for a six in the next over as Gujarat kept abreast of the asking rate leading into the end overs.
With another monstrous six against Chahal and a powerfully drilled boundary against Obed McCoy, Miller got to a half-century off 35 balls.
It boiled down to 16 off the final over bowled by Prasidh Krishna. Miller finished it sensationally with three consecutive sixes. His unbeaten 68 off 38 balls earned him the man-of-the-match award.
