The IPL 2026 moves into its last phase of the competition today as the defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) meet the rampant Gujarat Titans (GT) in Qualifier 1 in Dharamsala.
Both teams registered nine wins and five losses each in the league stage, with RCB taking the No. 1 spot in the points table owing to a slightly better net run rate.
The two units come into this clash on the back of contrasting results. GT beat CSK by 89 runs in their last league game, whereas RCB were downed by 55 runs by SRH.
Nonetheless, both teams and their players have the experience of being in the playoffs in recent seasons, and this clash of two contrasting batting ideologies will prove to be exciting to watch.
RCB vs GT: What happened when the two teams met in IPL 2026 in the league stage?
GT and RCB met twice in the league stage in IPL 2026. In their April 24 encounter in Bengaluru, a splendid partnership between Virat Kohli (81 off 44) and Devdutt Padikkal (55 off 27) helped RCB chase down the target of 206 with 7 balls to spare.
GT had their revenge in the return fixture on April 30 in Ahmedabad. GT put on a clinical bowling performance to restrict RCB to 155, and their batters chased it down inside 16 overs.
RCB vs GT contests to watch out for today: RCB openers vs GT new ball pacers
GT have inarguably the best powerplay bowling duo of IPL 2026 in Mohammed Siraj and Kagiso Rabada, although RCB’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood can one-up them tonight.
So, watch out for how Virat Kohli, Venkatesh Iyer/Phil Salt, and Devdutt Padikkal go against Siraj and Rabada. Will they play their aggressive brand of cricket to put pressure on the GT seamers? Or will the Siraj-Rabada pair be too hot to handle for RCB’s top order?
RCB vs GT: Injury news
Jacob Bethell has been ruled out of the rest of the season with a finger injury, although he had lost his place as an opener to Venkatesh Iyer. Captain Patidar said this about Phil Salt: “He is fit, he is doing fine. He is under observation with the doctor also. He is doing some drills also. We have not decided our playing 11 yet.”
Given the match is in Dharamsala, RCB could ponder bringing in Jacob Duffy for Suyash Sharma.
Meanwhile, Gujarat have all their players fit, and they are expected to stick with their winning combination.
RCB vs GT head-to-head record:
The RCB vs GT encounters have yielded four wins for both teams each so far. One of them will move ahead on this tally tonight.
RCB vs GT head-to-head stats in IPL:
- Matches: 8
- RCB won: 4
- GT won: 4
- No result: 0
- Tied: 0
IPL 2026: Today’s Predicted 11 Of RCB vs GT And Impact Player
RCB predicted XI:
Phil Salt/Venkatesh Iyer, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Romario Shepherd, Rajat Patidar (C), Tim David, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Krunal Pandya, Jacob Duffy/Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Salam (Impact Sub)
GT predicted XI:
Shubman Gill (c), Arshad Khan, Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler (wk), Mohammed Siraj, Jason Holder, Rahul Tewatia, Washington Sundar, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Nishant Sindhu, Prasidh Krishna (Impact Sub)
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