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The Gujarat Titans marched into the IPL 2026 finals after putting on an absolutely stunning show in the second qualifier against the Rajasthan Royals. However, they now had to face the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, the defending champions from the last season of the IPL.
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru have played like absolute champions this season and have been at the top of the table throughout the back end of this tournament. The best feature of the Royal Challengers has been that they have never looked dependent on any one or two of their cricketers, and instead, every player in that team stood up whenever the team needed them to.
With the Chennai Super Kings back in 2010 and 2011, and the Mumbai Indians back in 2019 and 2020, being the only two teams to have won the title in consecutive seasons, the Royal Challengers now become the third team to join them in this massive IPL feat.
Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan end IPL 2026 with record-breaking partnership stats
Coming into the Narendra Modi Stadium, a ground where Shubman Gill, the Gujarat Titans skipper, has had so much success not only for his franchise but also for the Indian team as well, a lot was expected from the skipper. He also played a stupendous innings in the last game, which defined his good form.
However, Shubman Gill was dismissed early in this match, and so did his batting partner Sai Sudharsan, who followed him into the dugout in the very next over. Sudharsan and Shubman Gill, however, finished the season with 700+ runs each, with nine and eight fifty-plus scores, respectively, this season, with a hundred to their name as well.
Together, these two have added 908 runs in opening partnerships for the Gujarat Titans, which did not let the Titans feel insufficient with the bat despite their sloppy middle order. A partnership worth 900+ runs in a season, most half-century and century partnerships in IPL history, the Titans openers have set a whole new universe of success in the IPL at the end of this season.
RCB bowlers dominate throughout GT’s innings; Batters chase it like a cakewalk
Not for once did the RCB bowlers let Rajat Patidar feel that he had wronged them by opting to bowl first after having won that toss in the IPL 2026 final. The last time the Challengers won the title, they had batted first and defended a score against the Punjab Kings.
Not only did Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar pick those crucial wickets at the start, but also Rasikh Salam, who kept picking wickets in almost every over he was handed the ball by the skipper. Gujarat could not put on a single partnership and could manage only 155 runs in their innings.
Just when the Gujarat Titans bowlers would have dreamt of getting their team back into the game, Virat Kohli and Venkatesh Iyer stood in their way with an excellent start to their innings. Kohli was off to a flyer this time as he attacked Rabada fearlessly, while Venky Iyer handed them a good start from the other end.
Despite a magical first over from Rashid Khan, the spin wizard from Afghanistan, Kohli showed why he is called the chasemaster as he took RCB to their second title in the IPL with an unbeaten knock of 75 runs. He was crowned the Player of the Match and has now overtaken the former MI captain Rohit Sharma.
"Very happy": Shubman Gill elated despite first defeat in an IPL final as GT captain
The losing captain Shubman Gill has a lot of emotions in his head as they are usually the ones who have missed glory by such a minimal margin, and so did Shubman Gill in this season of the IPL, where his team finished as runners-up. Gill reflected on some crucial flaws in the match and said the biggest point of concern was GT falling short of some runs.
"If we would have got close to 180-190, it would have been a good match. First three four overs there is some movement for the fast bowlers and we lost momentum after losing a couple of early wickets. We gave away 15-20 runs in the powerplay. I think we were one of the best bowling sides in the tournament," Shubman Gill said.
"After losing the first couple of games, we came back. Very happy. We couldn't get over the line, but there would have always been areas to improve even if we had won the trophy," Gill added on his team's performances in the season.
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