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Defending champs RCB power into final with big win over Gujarat Titans

cricket26 May 2026 18:37| © MWP
By:Neil Manthorp
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Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain Rajat Patidar scored an extraordinary 93 from just 33 balls to propel his team to a devastating 92-run win against the Gujarat Titans in the Tata IPL Qualifying match at the Himachal Pradesh Stadium in Dharamsala on Tuesday.

RCB scored 127 runs in the final seven overs after being asked to bat first reaching 254-5 before New Zealander Jacob Duffy (4-0-39-3) led the demolition which saw the Titans dismissed for a miserable 162.

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The match pitted the teams finishing first and second in the final league table against each other with RCB now progressing straight to the final and GT playing the winner of the Eliminator match between the Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Rajasthan Royals for a second chance at a place in the final.

Venkatesh Iyer gave RCB a flying start with 19 from just seven balls with Virat Kohli adding a rasping 43 from 25 balls and Devdutt Padikkal 30 from 19 but Patidar’s innings will be long-remembered by RCB loyalists containing five fours and nine sixes in a dismembering of the GT attack.

Krunal Pandya added further cream to the cake with 43 from 28 balls as Gujarat’s in-form, attack-leaders Mohammad Siraj (3-0-46-0) and Kagiso Rabada (4-0-54-2) were laid to waste.

Jason Holder, another success for GT in the season, took 2-39 from his four overs.

RCB’s bowlers were disciplined and efficient, especially Duffy, but scoreboard pressure played the greatest role in Gujarat’s demise which began in bizarre fashion when prolific opener Sai Sudharsan dropped his bat onto his stumps after hooking Duffy for four.

Shubman Gill (2) and Jos Buttler (29) were bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4-0-28-2) and Josh Hazlewood (4-0-39-1) respectively and complete humiliation loomed at 88-8 with the dismissal of Rabada at the start of the 12th over.

But Impact Substitute Rahul Tewatia restored a semblance of pride with a resolute 68 from 43 deliveries (8x4, 4x6) to give the Titans some belief that a restorative victory against the high-scoring Sunrisers may still be possible.

Patidar, however, will always reflect on an ‘innings of a lifetime’ in which every gamble paid dividends with his running slap-shots through cover and premeditated ramps and slog-sweeps all finding the middle of the bat.

It was an exhibition of power-hitting against a powerful, experienced attack.

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BENGALURU: Venkatesh Iyer, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (captain), Jitesh Sharma (wkt), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Duffy, Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Salam Dar

Impact Subs: Romario Shepherd, Suyash Sharma, Kanishk Chouhan, Abhinandan Singh, Jordan Cox

GUJARAT TITANS: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (captain), Jos Buttler (wkt), Washington Sundar, Nishant Sindhu, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Kulwant Khejroliya, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna

Impact subs: Rahul Tewatia, Glenn Phillips, Anuj Rawat, Kumar Kushagra, Sai Kishore

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