The IPL 2026 final is set. Gujarat Titans chased 215 with seven wickets and eight balls to spare on Friday night, ending Rajasthan Royals' season in Qualifier 2 and setting up a rematch with Royal Challengers Bengaluru — the same team that beat them in Qualifier 1 a week earlier. Shubman Gill made 104 from 53, Sai Sudharsan made 58 from 32, and a 215 total that should have been par on a flat surface ended up looking thirty short.
How the chase went
GT needed 10.75 an over. They got it without ever looking stretched. Gill and Sudharsan put on 167 for the first wicket inside twelve overs, which is the kind of partnership that makes a target evaporate before the asking rate becomes a problem. By the time Sudharsan chipped to mid-off for 58, GT needed under a run a ball with nine wickets in hand. Gill kept going, brought up his century with a slapped four through point, and the game was effectively decided when the pre-dinner ad break landed.
The shape of the innings is the story. Fifteen fours and three sixes for Gill, but barely any agricultural slogging — he played proper cricket shots into gaps that the RR field couldn't plug. The message to RCB's bowling coach: this is a captain whose game is built around timing, not muscle, and trying to bowl him out tends to back-fire on flat decks.
Sooryavanshi's 96 — the night's other headline
The strange thing about the result is that, for ninety minutes, Rajasthan looked like the team in control. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's 96 set the tone of the RR innings — clean striking through the off-side, a couple of audacious ramps over short third — and his dismissal four short of a hundred was the only moment all match where the crowd seemed to remember that the stakes were a place in the final. Donovan Ferreira's 38 not out off the back end ensured 214 went on the board.
On most nights, 215 is a defensible total. Not on this one. Once Gill and Sudharsan got going, the dew settled in, the ball started skidding on, and Sanju Samson's rotation of bowlers couldn't pull a wicket out of any combination he tried. The seamers went for nines and tens, the spinners couldn't grip it, and the death overs never even arrived.
What it means for the final
Royal Challengers Bengaluru lifted the IPL trophy last year and have looked the most balanced side in the competition all spring. They beat GT in Qualifier 1 to book their final spot. Now they get them again, which is both a gift — GT had to play a knockout last night, RCB rested — and a problem, because GT have had a week to study what went wrong the first time and Gill is playing as well as anyone in the tournament.
The matchup tension for the final, briefly:
- RCB's top order against the new ball, where Gill the captain has been clever with bowling-change matchups all season.
- GT's spin through the middle overs against an RCB batting line-up that has occasionally looked vulnerable to slower bowling on slower surfaces.
- The dew factor at Narendra Modi Stadium, which has skewed chases all spring — whoever wins the toss probably bowls first.
How GT got here
A reminder of the playoff route, because it's easy to lose track: GT finished second in the league, lost Qualifier 1 to RCB, dropped into Qualifier 2 against the winner of the Eliminator, and got Rajasthan. They've now played one more knockout match than RCB will have when the trophy is on the line — which the playoff format is designed to reward the top seed for. RCB are the rested, seeded, table-topping favourite. GT are the form team coming in hot. You can decide which matters more.
Sunday's final — the basics
Royal Challengers Bengaluru play Gujarat Titans on May 31 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad — capacity 132,000, the largest cricket stadium in the world, and GT's home ground. The neutral-venue argument is gone; this is a home final for the team chasing the title. Toss matters, dew matters, and a competition that started in March wraps up after sixty-five days.
We previewed the final earlier this week — if you want the deeper read on RCB's squad balance and how to watch the showpiece, have a look at the rest of our IPL coverage. Live cricket scores stream on our cricket page as they happen.
FAQ
When is the IPL 2026 final? Sunday, May 31, 2026 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Local start is 7:30 PM IST.
Have RCB and GT met in a final before? No. This is the first IPL final between the two franchises. They've met several times in playoffs over the years but never in the showpiece itself.
Who's the favourite? RCB by a sliver on bookmaker markets, mostly because they get the easier preparation week and a balanced bowling attack that has handled GT's top order before. Form swings to GT after a chase like Friday's.
Where can you watch it? Star Sports network in India, JioHotstar streaming. Internationally, broadcaster varies by region.