Dharamshala: Royal Challengers Bengaluru produced a complete all-round performance to defeat Gujarat Titans by 92 runs and seal their place in the final of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamshala.
With this win, the defending champions reached the IPL final for the second season in a row.
Chasing a massive target of 255, the Gujarat Titans never managed to recover after losing wickets regularly. Pacer Jacob Duffy led the bowling attack brilliantly with three important wickets, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rasikh Salam Dar, and Krunal Pandya picked up two wickets each.
Gujarat started positively with Sai Sudharsan attacking Jacob Duffy in the third over. However, in a strange moment, Sudharsan lost his bat while playing a shot, and the bat bounced back onto the stumps, ending his innings for 14 runs off nine balls.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar then struck a big blow by bowling Gujarat captain Shubman Gill for just two runs. Jos Buttler tried to counterattack and smashed Josh Hazlewood for boundaries and sixes, but Hazlewood responded immediately by clean bowling the dangerous batter. Buttler scored a quick 29 off only 11 balls.
RCB tightened their grip in the final over of the Power-play when Rasikh Salam Dar dismissed Nishant Sandhu and Jason Holder in the same over. Gujarat finished the Power-play struggling at 51/5 while chasing the huge target.
Washington Sundar and Rahul Tewatia tried to rebuild the innings, but Duffy removed Sundar for eight runs. The New Zealand pacer struck again soon after by dismissing Rashid Khan, reducing Gujarat to 87/7 in 11 overs. Krunal Pandya added to Gujarat’s troubles by removing Kagiso Rabada, who was caught by Virat Kohli at long-on.
With the match almost out of reach, Rahul Tewatia fought alone for the Gujarat Titans. The left-hander played an entertaining knock and reached his half-century in just 33 balls. He scored 68 runs off 43 deliveries with eight fours and four sixes before Bhuvneshwar dismissed him with a slower ball.
Krunal Pandya wrapped up the innings by taking the final wicket as the Gujarat Titans were bowled out for 162 in 19.3 overs.
Earlier, RCB had posted a record 254/5 thanks to captain Rajat Patidar’s unbeaten 93. Jacob Duffy was the standout bowler for Bengaluru with figures of 3/39.
After losing the toss and being asked to bat first, RCB got off to a flying start through Venkatesh Iyer, who smashed 19 runs off just seven balls with three fours and a six before getting out to Kagiso Rabada.
Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal then kept up the attacking approach. Kohli played some stylish shots while Padikkal hit boundaries regularly as RCB reached 76/1 in the powerplay, their best powerplay score of the season.
RCB’s total of 254/5 became the highest score ever recorded in IPL playoff history.
