IPL-Final: Gujarat Titans to take on Defending Champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru Today

In IPL Cricket, Gujarat Titans will be up against defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the final of the 2026 season at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad today. The match is scheduled to begin at 7:30 PM.

Gujarat Titans and Royal Challengers Bengaluru will look to make the most of their strengths in the final. Gujarat Titans have beaten RCB at this venue earlier this season, but Bengaluru will draw confidence from having won their maiden IPL title at the same ground last year.

RCB have enjoyed an impressive campaign and enter the final after a three-day break. Their batting has been one of the strongest in the tournament, with Virat Kohli leading the charge. In the bowling department, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood have been among their key performers with the new ball.

Meanwhile, Gujarat Titans, led by Shubman Gill, secured a top-two finish in the league stage and bounced back from a Qualifier 1 defeat to book their place in the final.

The team will once again rely on key batters Gill, Sai Sudharsan and Jos Buttler, while all-rounder Jason Holder has strengthened their bowling attack with important wickets in the second half of the season. Both teams are aiming for their second IPL title. Gujarat won their maiden crown in 2022, while RCB are looking to successfully defend the trophy they won last season.

Narendra Modi Stadium’s scale is impossible to miss, especially on IPL final nights when the venue is awash with colour and light. Less obvious, but perhaps more influential, is the diversity of surfaces it offers. The square comprises red-soil, black-soil and mixed pitches, offering a range of matches rarely available elsewhere in the tournament.

The mixed-soil Pitch No. 6 has been earmarked for the final, and all signs point towards another batting-friendly contest. Earlier this year, it produced 255 runs in the T20 World Cup final, and there is little to suggest it has lost any of its generosity. Yet the surface’s significance extends beyond its run-scoring potential. GT beat RCB on this very pitch earlier in the season. But RCB also return to a strip that delivered the most cherished night in their history: their maiden IPL title triumph a year ago.

While RCB have looked every bit the defending champions this season, Gujarat Titans have navigated a far less straightforward path to the final. A campaign that began with three wins and three losses offered little indication of where they were headed. But momentum gathered quickly thereafter, with seven victories in their next 10 matches propelling them into the top two. That cushion proved crucial, allowing them to absorb a setback in Qualifier 1 before punching their ticket to the final at the second attempt.

Their resurgence coincided with the arrival of Jason Holder, whose inclusion in place of Glenn Phillips injected fresh energy into the campaign. While the West Indian has contributed only 58 runs, his greater impact has come with the ball, taking 17 wickets in 10 appearances. Holder has consistently targeted a Test-match length, a method reminiscent of Kagiso Rabada’s successful approach. As Patidar was asked on the eve of the final, GT would appear to be playing a brand of cricket that leans more towards the red-ball game than the white-ball format this IPL season. Whether that assessment is entirely accurate or not, the strategy has served them well so far.

GT’s big challenge will be the threat from Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood up front and if Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan manage to overcome the initial challenge, like they did against Rajasthan Royals’ Jofra Archer on Friday night, their life in the middle could be easy. But their overdependence on Top-3, including Jos Buttler, is hardly ideal. Also not ideal is the one day turnaround time going into the big match.

RCB, on the other hand, should relish the situation, having rested for three days before the final. Their template has largely been built around high-scoring contests – post big totals and chase them as well. They are perhaps the best batting side in the league and R Ashwin reckons the holders are run-away favourites for not just this year but next year as well.

RCB have crossed 200 on nine occasions and successfully chased down 200-plus targets twice this season, despite having only one batter, Virat Kohli, among the tournament’s top 10 run-scorers. That speaks to the depth and versatility of their batting rather than reliance on individual brilliance. Contributions have come from throughout the order, with players such as Patidar, Devdutt Padikkal, Tim David, Krunal Pandya and, more recently, Venkatesh Iyer stepping up at crucial moments.

Fittingly, the title will be decided at a ground that already holds special memories for both franchises. Gujarat Titans lifted their maiden trophy here in 2022, while RCB ended their long wait for silverware on the same stage last season. Now, both are chasing a second crown. For GT, it is a chance to reaffirm their status as one of the IPL’s modern powerhouses; for RCB, an opportunity to join Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings as the only teams to successfully defend the title. After two months and 73 matches of twists and turns, the IPL comes down to one final glitzy night in Ahmedabad, with history waiting for whichever side can seize it.

RCB: Venkatesh Iyer, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Salam Dar, Jacob Duffy, Romario Shepherd

GT: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Nishant Sindhu, Washington Sundar, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Arshad Khan/R Sai Kishore