The 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was very unique and promised to be more exciting and thrilling than the previous editions.
Two new teams, Gujarat Titans (GT) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), were introduced and made their IPL debuts in 2022, increasing the number of teams in the cash-rich league from 8 to 10.
Although we had already seen a Gujarat franchise earlier, Gujarat Lions in 2016 and 2017 when Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) faced a two-year suspension from the league, a team from Lucknow had never been formed before.
So, did either of these two newly-introduced teams make it to the IPL 2022 Final? TSN takes a look.
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Which teams qualified for the Playoffs in IPL 2022?
Only the top four teams from the league phase make it to the IPL playoffs.
In 2022, newcomers GT finished at the top of the table with 10 wins of 14 games, collecting 20 points.
RR finished second, while LSG and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) finished in third and fourth spots respectively. CSK and Mumbai Indians (MI), the two most successful franchises in IPL, finished at the bottom of the table.
| Pos | Group | Team | GP | W | L | NR | Points | NRR |
| 1 | B | Gujarat Titans (Q) | 14 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 20 | 0.316 |
| 2 | A | Rajasthan Royals (Q) | 14 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 18 | 0.298 |
| 3 | A | Lucknow Super Giants (Q) | 14 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 18 | 0.251 |
| 4 | B | Royal Challengers Bangalore (Q) | 14 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 16 | -0.253 |
| 5 | A | Delhi Capitals | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 0.204 |
| 6 | B | Punjab Kings | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 0.126 |
| 7 | A | Kolkata Knight Riders | 14 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 12 | 0.146 |
| 8 | B | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 14 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 12 | -0.379 |
| 9 | B | Chennai Super Kings | 14 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 8 | -0.203 |
| 10 | A | Mumbai Indians | 14 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 8 | -0.506 |
Note: 'Q' implies that the team qualified for the playoffs at the end of the league stage
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Who won the IPL 2022 Final?
Qualifier 1 took place between GT and RR, which GT comfortably won by seven wickets to seal a place in the final.
In the Eliminator between LSG and RCB, RCB defeated the debutants to move to Qualifier 2, where they would face RR. However, RR dashed all hopes of RCB winning their first title as the 2008 champions put on a dominant display to reach the final, where they would then take on GT in a rematch of Qualifier 1.
The final between the Titans and the Royals took place at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, the former's home ground.
The total attendance at the stadium was 101,566, which was not only the IPL record for the highest attendance, but also set the Guinness World Record for highest attendance in a T20 match in cricket history.
Extremely delighted & proud to receive the Guinness World Record for the largest attendance at a T20 match when 101,566 people witnessed the epic @IPL final at @GCAMotera's magnificent Narendra Modi Stadium on 29 May 2022. A big thanks to our fans for making this possible! @BCCI https://t.co/JHilbDLSB2
— Jay Shah (@JayShah) November 27, 2022
RR skipper Sanju Samson won the toss and elected to bat first. They had a decent start, but after they lost their second wicket in the form of Samson at 60 runs after 8.2 overs, the entire RR innings fell apart.
The chief tormentor was GT skipper Hardik Pandya, who bowled an incredible spell of 3-17 in his four overs to peg RR back. The Royals managed to post just 130-9 after 20 overs on a pitch where at least 155-160 was considered a challenging total.
In reply, RR made a good start with the ball, dismissing Wriddhiman Saha and Matthew Wade to reduce GT to 23-2 in the fifth over.
However, Hardik translated his bowling form into his batting as he scored a composed 30-ball 34 and stitched a match-saving 63-run stand for the third wicket with Shubman Gill.
David Miller's belligerent cameo after Hardik was dismissed - where the South African scored an unbeaten 32 off just 19 balls, with a strike rate of 168.42 (and on a pitch where no other player bar Obed McCoy touched a strike rate of 160) - helped Titans wrap up the chase to win their maiden IPL trophy in their maiden season.
Who was the man of the match in the 2022 IPL final?
Hardik Pandya was named the Man of the Match for his all-round performance.
