Ahmedabad, May 29 (IANS): Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson won the toss and elected to bat first against Gujarat Titans in the final of IPL 2022 at the Narendra Modi Stadium here on Sunday. While this is Rajasthan's second final of the tournament after winning the inaugural edition in 2008, Gujarat are making their first appearance in the title clash in their IPL debut season.

After winning the toss for the second time in as many matches in Ahmedabad, Samson said his playing eleven is unchanged from the win in Qualifier 2 against Royal Challengers Bangalore. "Looks like a good wicket, a bit dry and that's why we'll bat first, it's a used wicket and might help our spinners in the second innings. We're all positive and excited. Playing in front of this crowd is exciting," observed the right-handed batter.

Gujarat skipper Hardik Pandya, who received massive cheers from a full house in the stadium, said pacer Lockie Ferguson comes into the playing eleven in place of Alzarri Joseph. "It is fantastic to see so many people coming to support us. We have the opportunity to be a hero and this is the time for us. We want to treat this game as normal as possible and make the right decisions."

"It does help (qualifying early and having a break), calms your nerves down, we have focused as a group, be as normal as possible, and play our 'A-game'. The boys are chilled out, credit to the support staff. People of Gujarat are very loyal, very excited for it," stated the all-rounder.

Playing XIs:

Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Matthew Wade, Hardik Pandya (c), David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Lockie Ferguson, R Sai Kishore, Mohammed Shami, Yash Dayal

Rajasthan Royals: Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Obed McCoy, Yuzvendra Chahal