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Kagiso Rabada breaks a massive IPL record with Venkatesh Iyer's wicket in the IPL 2026 qualifier. The South African is closely competing with RCB's Bhuvneshwar Kumar for the purple cap this season.
Gujarat Titans made it to the IPL 2026 Qualifier 1 after having finished second on the IPL 2026 points table, only behind RCB due to their run rate. One of the major forces behind this success was veteran pacer Kagiso Rabada.
Kagiso Rabada's break massive IPL record in IPL 2026
As the Gujarat Titans clash against the Royal Challengers from Bengaluru in the first playoff game for the season, Kagiso Rabada was one of GT's most trusted sources. Shubman Gill won the toss and opted to bowl first.
Rabada bowled the second over in the game, and Venkatesh Iyer hit him for a massive six on the 5th ball of the over. Venky Iyer was dismissed on the final ball of the over, and the back-of-length delivery once again did the trick for the South African.
This was Rabada's 18th wicket of the season within the powerplay. With this, he broke the record of most powerplay wickets in a single season of the IPL, previously held by Mohammed Shami while playing for GT in 2023.
Kagiso Rabada now has the most powerplay wickets by any bowler in an IPL season ⚡ pic.twitter.com/crwavKnufZ
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) May 26, 2026
Kagiso Rabada's best seasons in IPL history
Kagiso Rabada made his IPL debut back in 2017 for the Delhi Capitals, and the young gun from South Africa was a nightmare for the batters in the IPL during his initial seasons. In his next two full seasons for the Capitals, he picked 55 wickets from 29 matches in 2019 and 2020/21.
Rabada's best season with the ball remains the 2020/21 season for the Capitals, when they reached the finals. He had 30 scalps in that season and might be chasing his record this season as well.
As of now, the South African speedster has picked 25 scalps with one more over left in Qualifier 1 and either one or two more matches left this season, depending on the outcome of this game.
Jason Holder brings back GT with astonishing double strike
The Gujarat Titans opted to bowl first, citing the need to pose some restrictions over the dangerous RCB batting deck on a friendly track in Dharamshala. However, despite an early wicket from Rabada, the Challengers once again dominated the powerplay.
Devdutt Padikkal and Virat Kohli rushed them through the powerplay, ending on a strong note of 76 runs. However, after two silent overs past the powerplay, Jason Holder returned with the 9th over to dismiss Kohli with a shorter delivery outside the off stump, which was dragged back into the stumps.
Holder struck again on the third ball, with Padikkal walking back into the dugout after a solid start. They overturned the tide of the match with that over as the Challengers slowly started to struggle with their run-scoring.
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