Hardik Pandya leads debutants Gujarat Titans to dream title

Captain Hardik Pandya starred with the ball and bat to lead Gujarat Titans to IPL glory, in front of a home crowd of over 100000 at the Narendra Modi Stadium. After losing the toss on the same pitch that was used for the second qualifier on Friday, Hardik ripped through Royals' line-up by dismissing Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson and Shimron Hetmyer in a spell of 4-0-17-3.

The damage proved irreparable, especially for a line-up that had R Ashwin, Riyan Parag, Trent Boult, Obed McCoy, Prasidh Krishna and Yuzvendra Chahal from Nos. 6 to 11.

Royals took out Wriddhiman Saha and Matthew Wade early in their defence of 130, but Hardik, the batter, stopped them in their tracks, with 34 off 30 balls. Chahal snagged Hardik in the 14th over, with Titans 45 away from victory, but Shubman Gill and David Miller coolly finished the job that Hardik had started in grand style.