Gujarat Titans (GT) vice-captain Rashid Khan said that being part of the IPL-winning team is the biggest achievement of a cricketer’s career after GT won the IPL 2022 on May 29, defeating RR in the final at Ahmedabad.
GT successfully chased down 130 runs to beat Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 7 wickets in the IPL 2022 final on Sunday at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad and clinched the IPL title on their debut.
After the final, Rashid said that winning the IPL title with GT was a high point of his career. Rashid was drafted in by GT ahead of IPL 2022 auction after he parted ways with Sunrisers Hyderabad over monetary issues.
The Afghanistan leg-spinner, who returned with stunning figures of 1/18 in his four overs against RR, said that the chase was tough on the Narendra Modi Stadium wicket on Sunday.
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Rashid Khan said in a post-match presentation: “Biggest achievement of your career is to be part of a winning IPL team. You always want to do well in big competitions like this. Winning tournaments like this, you'll need to put in a lot of hard work and this is certainly a high point of my career.”
Rashid Khan picked 19 wickets in 16 matches in the IPL 2022 and even captained the side in one match, when Hardik Pandya was out with a niggle.
He added, “We assessed the wicket well; we knew it would be hard to chase down 150. Everyone had to take responsibility, we did well to come back well in the middle overs. Shubman Gill is the only guy whom we didn't want to bowl to and I'm happy that he's part of our team.”
Meanwhile, Shubman Gill, who played an unbeaten knock of 45 off 43 balls in the final, was also elated after winning his first IPL title.
Gill stated: “It means a lot. After winning the under-19 World Cup, winning the IPL is just as big. It is my fourth year. I wanted to be there till the end and that was the talk with the coaches. Glad I took them over the line.”
On GT bowlers’ performance against RR, Gill said: “Our bowlers bowled really well to restrict them to 130. We wanted to keep them under 150 but fortunately, it was much lesser.”
On the other hand, David Miller, who contributed an unbeaten 32 off just 19 balls to help GT cross the line against RR, said that it was a phenomenal journey and was happy to contribute to the team’s success.
Miller said after the match, “It's been a phenomenal journey, finishing it at the back end was a special feeling, but it has been a collective effort, everyone has stuck up their hand and performed well. Definitely my best season.”
He signed off by hailing Hardik Pandya, “He's been very relaxed; we've had a very good bond with Ashish (Nehra) and Hardik. He's got better and better as the competition went on, tactically he's been brilliant. Just grown from strength to strength.”
(With IANS Inputs)
