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Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper Rajat Patidar led from the front as they put on a mountain of runs in Qualifier 1 of the IPL 2026. RCB's massive 254 is now the highest ever by any franchise in an IPL playoff.
The Royal Challengers skipper, Rajat Patidar, lost the toss but was not unhappy with his team batting first, as he rightly predicted that with the ball coming nicely onto the bat, scoring runs and taking an early advantage in the game would favor the team batting first.
Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal once again gave RCB the start they needed until their dismissal. Patidar stitched a handy partnership alongside Krunal Pandya for the fourth wicket and took his team to a mammoth score.
Rajat Patidar leads the show at Dharamshala; Joins David Warner in elite IPL record
Rajat Patidar might not have had the starts he usually loves to have in the qualifier game, as he showed some responsibility towards the side. Composed Patidar started off his hitting spree off Kulwant Khejroliya's second over.
Scoring 14 off 3 balls, he started off the carnage that never looked to stop. He targeted GT's very best in business, including Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, and lastly Prasidh Krishna, scoring 71 runs off the last 19 balls he faced off in his innings.
RCB finished with a record score of 254/5, the highest ever in an IPL playoff game, surpassing GT's former record of 233 against the Mumbai Indians in IPL 2023. Patidar himself equaled David Warner's decade-long record of most runs by a skipper in a playoff with a 93-run inning off just 33 balls.
Rajat Patidar scores the third-fastest half-century by a skipper in an IPL playoff
Patidar also broke the record score by an Indian captain in an IPL playoff, after having surpassed Shreyas Iyer's 87* in the PBKS vs MI game in the Qualifier 2 of IPL 2025.
Rajat Patidar has also joined the list of players with the quickest half-century in an IPL playoff. With only three Indians at the top of that list, he is now the third fastest as captain of a side and the second fastest Indian after the great MS Dhoni.
The record for fastest IPL half-century in an IPL playoff by a skipper is held by Adam Gilchrist for the Deccan Chargers in 2009, followed by MS Dhoni for CSK in 2012, with both having reached the milestone of 17 and 20 balls, respectively. Patidar is third on the list, having reached the half-century off 21 balls.
Massive Records broken by RCB and Patidar in Qualifier 1 at Dharamshala
Not one but several records were broken by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in pursuit of their second IPL title. The score of 254 also went on to be the third highest total by RCB in their history of the IPL.
Royal Challengers became the third team to have scored nine 200+ totals in a single season of the IPL. The record is held by two more teams this season, the Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Punjab Kings.
The 95-run partnership between Rajat Patidar and Krunal Pandya is the third-highest partnership between two batters batting for the fourth wicket or lower. A total of 14 sixes were hit during the RCB vs GT game, the fourth most during an IPL playoff match.
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