Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Gujarat Titans (GT) faced off in Qualifier 1 of the IPL 2026 on May 26, 2026, in Dharmshala. Shubman Gill, the captain of GT, won the toss and decided to bowl first.
Venkatesh Iyer demonstrated his purpose with a 7-ball 19 as RCB got ready to face the GT bowling. Virat Kohli scored 43 runs in 25 balls with five fours and one six, while Devdutt Padikkal continued the trend with 30 runs in 19 balls with five fours.
But after Kohli and Padikkal were removed in the same over, captain Rajat Patidar's comeback proved to be the RCB's best innings. Nine sixes and five fours were among his 93* in 33 balls. He received excellent support from Jitesh Sharma (15* in 5 balls) and Krunal Pandya (43).
For a time, Jos Buttler (29) and Sai Sudharsan (14) were formidable, but GT's innings never gained momentum. Rahul Tewatia's 68 helped GT only score 162 after they lost a ton of wickets. For RCB, Jacob Duffy collected 3/39, while Krunal Pandya, Rasikh Salam, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar each took two wickets.
With their 92-run triumph, RCB advanced to the IPL 2026 final, which will be held in Ahmedabad on May 31.
Meanwhile, a video is going viral on social media, showing Virat Kohli having fun on the field at the expense of the opposition. Kohli was seen making funny gestures towards the Gujarat Titans players as they sat down for the team photo.
The GT players were taking a team portrait shortly before taking the field, while Virat was getting ready to open the batting for his team. He taunted them with the 'Babaji ka Thullu' gesture, prompting laughter all around.
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