IPL 2022: Gujarat Becomes The First Team To Qualify For The Playoffs

New team Gujarat Titans has become the first officially qualified team for the playoffs in IPL 2022. Gujarat booked a berth in the playoffs by beating Lucknow Super Giants last night.

In this low-scoring match, Gujarat won the toss and chose to bat. It didn’t get an ideal start because it lost the wickets of Wriddhiman Saha and Matthew Wade inside the powerplay. After that, Gujarat batters went into defensive mode. With the help of tight bowling from its bowlers, Lucknow managed to restrict Gujarat to a score of 144/4.

Everyone thought that it would be a one-sided affair. But Gujarat proved why it’s called the best bowling side of this edition. GT bowlers troubled LSG batters right from the start of the second innings.

As a result, LSG lost 3 wickets inside the powerplay. It failed to recover after that as the wickets started falling down at regular intervals. Finally, LSG went all-out for just 82 runs. Rashid Khan registered his best IPL figures (4/24) and played a key role in dismantling LSG’s batting order.

Lucknow has now won 8 of its 12 games. It needs to win one of its remaining two games to get officially qualified for the playoffs.

Even if it loses both the remaining games, Lucknow has a chance of qualifying for the playoffs. Thus, two new teams have managed to qualify for the playoffs right in their inaugural season.