🏏IPL 2026:Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Gujarat Titans, Final🏏 - Page 2

Kohli's twin tests: Rabada and Holder

22 off 11 in Bengaluru. 21 off 8 in Ahmedabad before being dismissed. 20 off 12 in Dharamsala.

Rabada may have historically enjoyed the upper hand over Kohli, but their contests this season have largely tilted in the batter's favour. Kohli has been willing to take risks against Rabada's new-ball pace, attacking on the rise and unsettling the seamer from his preferred lengths.

As a result, Rabada has conceded 11.75 per over against RCB in Powerplay compared to 9.05 against the rest of the opponents. If Kohli can once again force Rabada off his lengths, Gill may have to turn earlier than planned to Prasidh Krishna or Jason Holder, who have combined for four wicketless Powerplay overs costing 48 runs this season.

Should Kohli survive the Powerplay, another challenge awaits. Holder has dismissed him in both matches where the two have crossed paths this season and he has been one of the most effective middle-overs bowlers in the tournament. Between 7 and 15, he has taken 13 wickets at 16.38 while conceding only 7.34 per over. Using his height to generate steep bounce, Holder has relied heavily on hard lengths and bouncers. More than half his deliveries in this phase have been short, yielding seven wickets at an average of 15.14, including two dismissals of a well-set Kohli.

Titans' Patidar problem

No batter has dominated the post-Powerplay phases quite like Rajat Patidar this season. His 450 runs outside the Powerplay have come at a strike rate of 216.34 - the highest recorded by a batter in a single IPL season. He strikes at 204 in the middle overs and an extraordinary 249 at the death. Against pace he averages 60.33 at a strike rate of 192.55, while against spin the strike rate climbs further to 210.16, though five dismissals have come in just 59 balls.

Gill took Rashid Khan out of the attack when Patidar arrived in Qualifier 1, and with good reason. Patidar scored 34 off 16 balls against Rashid without being dismissed. A more intriguing option could be Manav Suthar, if Gill is brave enough. The left-arm spinner dismissed Patidar in Bengaluru with a delivery that drifted in, dipped and turned enough. Across T20 cricket, Suthar has removed him both times they crossed paths, in seven balls. Sai Kishore also dismissed Patidar in their previous meeting in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

The alternative is to attack him with pace into the surface before he settles. Patidar has been dismissed four times by seamers bowling on a length or shorter within the first 20 balls of his innings. During that phase he averages 37 at a strike rate of 138.31. Once he crosses the 20-ball mark, those numbers explode: 75 runs off 29 balls at 258.62 without getting out.

Early wickets are therefore crucial. RCB's batting order functions best when its designated finishers arrive at carefully planned entry points. That dependence has become more pronounced in 2026 because of the poor form of Jitesh Sharma and Romario Shepherd. Since 2025, RCB have been three down inside eight overs seven times and have lost five of those matches.

The Bhuvneshwar conundrum

If RCB's batting revolves around Kohli and Patidar, GT's hopes are built around a top three that has carried much of the scoring burden through the season. Bhuvneshwar Kumar's resurgence has made him one of the most influential new-ball bowlers in the tournament, and he enters the final with favourable matchups against both Gill and Buttler.

Buttler has long struggled against Bhuvneshwar's inswinger and of his nine dismissals to the seamer, five have come within the first ten balls of his innings. Gill has also been vulnerable to deliveries angling back into him from a length, but against Bhuvneshwar five of his six dismissals came while attempting to force the ball through the offside.

Sai Sudharsan has managed the matchup better, falling only once in 45 deliveries, although Bhuvneshwar has largely kept him in check by conceding just 52 runs.

Should Buttler negotiate the opening spell, the contest shifts sharply in GT's favour. He strikes at over 160 against every other member of the RCB attack. Collectively, Gill, Buttler and Sudharsan average 55.12 and score at 143.18 against back-foot bowling this season - a useful trait against an RCB attack built around seam and bounce.

Sudharsan enters the final after eight fifty-plus scores in his last ten innings, with the two failures coming against RCB. Earlier in the season he showed a vulnerability against spinners attacking his pads, an avenue RCB may explore through Krunal Pandya. The percentage of spin he faced in his first eight innings was 34.4%; across the last eight, that figure has fallen to 15.9%.

Can Titans hold on to their catches?

Margins are likely to be thin between two evenly matched sides. GT's catching has repeatedly widened those margins in defeat. GT have dropped 26 catches this season, the second-most by any side, and it has repeatedly proved costly. They have lost only three of their last ten matches and in each of those defeats, they dropped the opposition's eventual top scorer.

Kohli was reprieved first ball in Bengaluru and went on to make 81 off 44. Finn Allen was dropped on 33 before blasting 93 off 35. In Qualifier 1, Patidar was put down twice in the 14th over and added another 72 runs off just 20 balls after the second reprieve.

Their attack has regularly created opportunities; in a final where margins are thin, converting those chances could be the difference between glory and regret.

What happens if rain washes out the title clash in Ahmedabad ??

With the trophy on the line, fans across the country will be ..

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🧿🔴 One last time for this season!🧿🔴

finallyyy it is final day

I want virat and Gill to win.

It's very difficult to choose.

Virat= RCB

Gill = Gujrat.

Both the teams have won IPL Title ONCE.

But, agar GT jitata hai...Toh it will be Gill's first IPL TITLE WIN as a captain .

May the best man/team win.

Achcha hua Shruti Jaldi thread bana diya

Aj aaram se dekhenge match...jisko jitna hai jeete

Bas...

Gill <50 runs

Sai <60 runs...

Aur kuch nahin mangta

RCB agar hari to achcha nahin hai

They got everything in their favor after Q1 win...enough physical and mental rest, enough time to think plan, enough time to recover