Shubman Gill delivered a stunning century to guide Gujarat Titans past Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets in the IPL 2026 Qualifier 2 at Mullanpur on Friday. This triumph secured GT a place in the final against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. While pursuing a target of 215, GT skipper Gill hammered an explosive 104 from just 53 deliveries, featuring 15 boundaries and three maximums. Sai Sudharsan provided excellent support with a quickfire 58 from 32 balls. The opening pair built a massive 167-run stand that laid the foundation for victory. Previously, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s brilliant 96 from 47 balls helped RR reach 214 for 6. Sooryavanshi achieved a remarkable milestone by becoming the quickest player to reach 1,000 IPL runs based on balls faced. The young star accomplished this feat in just 440 deliveries, breaking Andre Russell’s previous record of 545 balls by a significant margin. He also made history as the first player to accumulate 500 runs during Powerplay overs in a single IPL campaign. Jason Holder and Kagiso Rabada each claimed two wickets after RR captain Riyan Parag won the toss and chose to bat first. Shubman Gill’s Captain Performance Books Final Date with RCB.
TOSS-
Rajasthan Royals secured the toss and decided to bat first.
PLAYING XI –
Gujarat Titans (Playing XI):
Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Jos Buttler (w), Nishant Sindhu, Washington Sundar, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Kagiso Rabada, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj
Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI):
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel (w), Riyan Parag (c), Donovan Ferreira, Dasun Shanaka, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Brijesh Sharma, Yash Raj Punja
RAJASTHAN ROYALS-
GT’s strategy against the RR batting lineup was evident: deliver short-pitched bowling. Yashasvi Jaiswal attempted a pull shot against Mohammed Siraj but mistimed it completely. Dhruv Jurel, after finding the boundary off Kagiso Rabada, tried to drive a delivery that wasn’t quite full and managed only a leading edge. Following the second over, Sooryavanshi had faced merely three balls, with GT dictating terms. However, the situation shifted rapidly as the youngster launched his aggressive response.
His counterattack began with three consecutive boundaries off Siraj in a 21-run over, then continued with a four and a towering six off Rabada. Ravindra Jadeja, pushed up the order to bat at No. 4, also found a couple of boundaries as RR sprinted to 50 within 4.3 overs. Siraj was experiencing shoulder discomfort and departed after the fifth over, having just conceded another boundary to Sooryavanshi. Prasidh Krishna maintained the short-ball approach but was punished by Jadeja, who smashed a six and two fours.
Jadeja accelerated to 34 from 19 balls, outscoring Sooryavanshi temporarily, before retiring hurt due to an elbow problem just before the ninth over. Riyan Parag and Sooryavanshi maintained the momentum, launching a pair of sixes during Rashid Khan’s opening over as RR reached 100 in the ninth. Parag departed to Jason Holder, offering a catch to deep midwicket, but a significant opportunity was missed in the following over when Sai Sudharsan arrived late to the ball and dropped a top edge from Sooryavanshi, denying Prasidh a wicket.
Holder maintained pressure with tight bowling and also removed Dasun Shanaka using a bouncer. Jofra Archer entered next, launched a six off Prasidh, and departed shortly after, as GT consistently pulled RR back. Sooryavanshi, now batting with his seventh partner for the first time—having previously batted with only four others—reached his most cautious fifty, requiring 31 deliveries. Jadeja returned to renew his partnership with Sooryavanshi, who lofted a six over wide long-off during a Rabada over and subsequently took a blow to his helmet grille while attempting to pull.
Following the helmet strike, Sooryavanshi quickly regained his rhythm. Despite GT persisting with short deliveries, he pulled Siraj for a six and hammered two fours plus a six off Holder to propel RR beyond 150 in the 16th over. Two additional sixes off Washington Sundar followed as he completed another fifty-run partnership with Jadeja.
Nevertheless, frustration awaited Sooryavanshi once more as he fell short of a century again, dismissed four runs away when an attempted upper cut off Rabada failed to produce the intended result, mirroring the previous match. His departure didn’t prevent a strong finish for RR, courtesy of Donovan Ferreira. Following two boundaries off Prasidh in the 19th over, he smashed four sixes in the final over against Rashid to push RR beyond the 210-run mark, appearing to be a competitive total on a surface that posed some challenges for batsmen.
GUJARAT TITANS-
GT rarely struggles with their opening phase, and they demonstrated that the RCB match was merely an exception. The foundation was established in the first over as Sudharsan and Gill each struck two boundaries off Archer, with the boundary flow continuing as GT rushed to 52 in four overs, matching their fastest team fifty alongside four other instances. Sudharsan enjoyed good fortune on 14 while attempting a pull-off on Nandre Burger when Ferreira dropped the chance. Brijesh Sharma delivered a tight seven-run over while Tushar Deshpande, the impact substitute, was struck for two fours by Sudharsan in the sixth over as the Titans finished one run behind the Royals’ Powerplay total.
The scoring rate remained high even after field restrictions ended, as Gill and Sudharsan continued discovering boundaries while building their partnership. Gill achieved a 30-ball fifty with a six and four off Deshpande in the ninth over, by which point he and Sudharsan had already constructed their eighth century stand in the IPL. Jadeja suffered punishment from Gill as well, who struck two sixes and a four to drive GT to 127 for 0 at the innings’ midpoint, 24 runs ahead of RR’s position at that stage. Sudharsan then completed a 26-ball fifty with a six off Yash Raj Punja before Gill concluded the over with two fours, with both batsmen also surpassing 700 seasonal runs. GT crossed 150 in the 12th over, with Gill entering the 90s after two boundaries off Burger.
For consecutive matches, Sudharsan was dismissed hit-wicket, concluding a massive partnership that had brought GT close to a final berth. The delivery from Brijesh was a low full toss, which Sudharsan carved to the boundary, but while executing the shot he again lost control of his bat, and this time it struck the stumps directly. This marked his third hit-wicket dismissal in the IPL, sharing the record with Andre Russell and Shoaib Malik in T20 cricket. GT remained well-positioned, requiring 48 from 43 deliveries.
It was only the 14th over when Gill advanced down the pitch and drove inside-out over cover for a four off Jadeja, recording GT’s fastest T20 century in 47 balls—surpassing his own 49-ball effort against MI in the 2023 Qualifier 2. He simultaneously became the first player to score multiple IPL playoff centuries and the first captain to reach three figures in the playoffs. Gill eventually fell to Archer, adjudged leg-before, with GT needing 33 from 30 balls. Sundar hit a four and six off Archer before falling to Burger, with GT requiring 14 from 17 deliveries. Rahul Tewatia completed the chase with an unbeaten 17 from 9 balls, striking two fours and a six off Brijesh in the 19th over.
Brief scores:
Rajasthan Royals 214/6 in 20 overs [Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 96 (47), Ravindra Jadeja 45* (35); Jason Holder 2-27] lost to Gujarat Titans 219/3 in 18.4 overs (Shubman Gill 104 (53), Sai Sudharsan 58 (32); Nandre Burger 1-35) by 7 wickets.
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