IPL Final 2026: There will be a great battle in Ahmedabad today, GT and RCB will clash for the second trophy; Know who has the upper hand

RCB vs GT IPL 2026 Final Match Preview: After two months of thrills, records and ups and downs, IPL 2026 has now reached its final stage. Ahmedabad on Sunday, 31st May Final match between Gujarat Titans (GT) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at Narendra Modi Stadium. Will be played. Both teams have been among the strongest teams this season.

RCB topped the league stage and directly made it to Qualifier-1 while Gujarat Titans finished second. In Qualifier-1, RCB defeated GT by 92 runs and booked the ticket for the final. While Gujarat made a comeback by defeating Rajasthan Royals in Qualifier-2 and made it to the finals.

How will be the pitch of Narendra Modi Stadium?

The pitch of Narendra Modi Stadium on which the final match will be played is mixed soil pitch number-6. Big scores have been seen on similar pitches this year. In such a situation, another high-scoring match is expected. The average first innings score (in 16 matches) at Narendra Modi Stadium in IPL since 2025 has been 203… Out of these 16 matches, 11 have been won by the team batting first. In cases of victory, the average score of the first innings is 213 runs.

Ahmedabad is the home ground of GT. Here this season he has won 5 out of 7 matches. However, this ground is also special for RCB, because last year it won its first IPL title here.

Gujarat’s strength: Gill-Sudarshan pair

The entire batting of Gujarat Titans largely revolves around the pair of Shubhman Gill and Sai Sudarshan. Both the batsmen have scored more than 700 runs this season and have single-handedly led the team to victory in many matches.

Sai Sudarshan and Shubman Gill have now joined the pairs with the highest century partnership in T20 cricket. Even in Qualifier-2, both of them had almost ended the match against Rajasthan by making a partnership of 167 runs.

Jason Holder changed the fortunes of Gujarat

The real change in the Gujarat team, which struggled in the first half of the season, was visible after the arrival of Jason Holder. Holder, who was bought for Rs 7 crore, performed brilliantly with the ball and took 17 wickets in 10 matches. His precise line-length and extra bounce gave a new edge to Gujarat’s bowling attack.

What is the biggest strength of RCB?

RCB did not depend only on Virat Kohli this season. Players like captain Rajat Patidar, Devdutt Padikkal, Tim David, Krunal Pandya and Venkatesh Iyer gave match-winning performances on different occasions. RCB has scored more than 200 9 times this season and has also successfully chased 200+ runs twice. This batting depth makes them different from other teams.

Which players will keep an eye on?

• Virat Kohli vs Kagiso Rabada
• Shubman Gill vs Bhuvneshwar Kumar
• Sai Sudarshan vs Josh Hazlewood
• Rashid Khan vs Devdutt Padikkal

Bhuvneshwar Kumar has dismissed Shubman Gill 5 times and Jos Buttler 9 times in IPL. At the same time, Rabada and Holder have also sent Virat Kohli to the pavilion many times.

Who has the upper hand?

RCB leads 5-4 in head-to-head record. Both the teams have won one match each in Ahmedabad. However, RCB has got three days’ rest, while GT has directly reached the finals after playing Qualifier-2. On the other hand, Gujarat will get the advantage of home ground and conditions. That means the final of IPL 2026 will not only be a contest between two teams, but will also be a clash of two different cricketing philosophies. On one hand, aggressive batting of RCB, on the other hand, balanced and disciplined game of GT.

GT’s probable playing 11

Sai Sudarshan, Shubman Gill (captain), Jos Buttler (wicketkeeper), Nishant Sindhu, Washington Sundar, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna and Arshad Khan/R Sai Kishore

RCB’s probable playing 11

Venkatesh Iyer, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (captain), Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Rasik Salaam Dar, Jacob Duffy and Romario Shepherd.

GT and RCB have reached the playoffs in four out of the last five seasons, which is the most. RR has reached the playoffs thrice. Sai Sudarshan and Shubman Gill now have eight century partnerships for the opening wicket, the joint-highest with Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan in men’s T20.