David Miller blitz fires Gujarat Titans into IPL final

The South African produced a brutal finisher's performance after Jos Buttler's 56-ball 89 had left Royals in the ascendancy at the halfway stage

Kolkata: Rajasthan Royals 188-6, Gujarat Titans 191-3 - Gujarat Titans win by seven wickets

Scorecard

A fine half century from David Miller fired Gujarat Titans into the final of the Indian Premier League, overcoming Rajasthan Royals in the first qualifier of the playoff phase.

The South African produced a brutal finisher's performance after Jos Buttler's 56-ball 89 had left Royals in the ascendancy at the halfway stage.

Rajasthan will get another go as they look to join Gujarat in the final, when they face the winner of Wednesday's eliminator between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Lucknow Super Giants.

But they were overcome in Kolkata by Hardik Pandya's side in their first year as an IPL franchise. Miller finished unbeaten on 68 in just 38 deliveries, while Pandya (40*) played second fiddle in an unbroken stand for the fourth wicket worth 106 runs.

Gujarat needed 16 runs heading into the final over, but Miller promptly dispatched Prasidh Krishna for sixes over the legside off the first three balls to end proceedings with half the over still remaining. It was fitting reward for Titans, who were the first team to qualify for the knockout stage after enjoying a tremendous run through the round-robin phase.

Earlier, Buttler had played an innings of two distinct halves to drag Royals towards a total that had looked out of reach for most of their 20 overs. After a fast start against Mohammed Shami, the England wicketkeeper struggled through the middle overs and went half the innings without a boundary at one stage, before belatedly clicking into gear.

^{Gujarat Titans are the first team into the IPL final for 2022}

He had the fortune of being dropped by Rashid Khan as he ran in from deep midwicket, and he would have been taken by Pandya at long-off had the allrounder not slipped inexplicably while setting himself. But he took down Alzarri Joseph in a late blitz, with Sanju Samson the only other Rajasthan player who ever got going on a pitch that was slower than it first appeared.

Samson smashed 47, including a six over mid on from the first ball he faced, but after he miscued to long on, only Devdutt Padikkal provided any impetus until Buttler's late show.

Titans, however, had other ideas: despite losing Wriddhiman Saha without scoring and Shubman Gill to a runout following a miscommunication with Matthew Wade when both were well set, they remained near enough to the required run rate for their army of finishers to take charge.

Neither Rahul Tewatia nor Rashid were needed, with Miller hitting vital boundaries in Yuzvendra Chahal's final over and Obed McCoy's last, which was the penultimate over in the game, to ensure the last-over target never crept too far away.