Gujarat Titans vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru, 42nd Match, Indian Premier League 2026 - CommentaryGT vs RCB, 42nd Match, Indian Premier League 2026 - Commentary

A crucial two points for GT who move to 10 points with this win and they keep themselves well in the race for the playoffs as a result. A minor blip in the batting from RCB and they would be disappointed at collapsing from a good position. Three teams on 12 points and the points table is quite jampacked in the first four positions. We are winding up things for the night. We will be back with more IPL action tomorrow. See you then. Bye bye.

Jason Holder | Player of the Match: "Yeah, happy with the way things went for me personally. It is one of those nights. Things really clicked for the group. I felt our energy was really good from the start. You know, we're able to get new-ball wickets after the first over, I guess, everybody's a little bit edgy, but, credit to KG, Siraj, the way they started in the powerplay and brought the game back in our favour. (did he see KG on that Patidar catch?) Yeah, I did see him. I was just hoping that I didn't run into him. Yeah, I don't know who would have won that one, but yeah, I had him in my eye for sure, but I just didn't want it to fall on the ground. So, just for me, just somebody committing to going for it. He was still in my peripheral, yes, but I mean, I thought he was far enough from me that I could make an attempt. My biggest thing was just to get there and give an attempt and hold on to it. (ball following him tonight) Yeah, not something that I really want, to be fair. But, I mean, I welcome it as it comes. It's one of those nights where things came to me. I didn't go searching for it, obviously, but yeah, just happy to hold on to the chances when they come, contribute to a team win, and happy that we got over the line today. (enjoying the middle-order role?) I think the way this franchise operates has been really good. You just got to stay sharp. Ashish is very planned with is, well very detailed with his plans, and it's more or less, just coming in when needed and just delivering. For me, I just have an open mind. I'm not sure exactly sometimes what scenario that I could be posed with, but for me, it's just being switched on and being able to adapt and execute."

Shubman Gill | GT captain: "Feels very satisfying, you know, on a wicket like this, restricting a team like them under 160 was a tremendous job by the bowlers. (reason for the win tonight?) I think our fielding was one of the things, it's something I think at phases, we haven't fielded that well in the game. And I think today was one of those days, everyone came together. The energy in the field was very, very nice, especially after the second over, Virat bhai hit us for some runs and how we all came back together. That was very crucial for us. (was there a conscious effort from him to be aggressive in the powerplay?) Honestly, not really. I was just feeling like I was in the zone and on the first ball, I got a bit lucky. And the second one, I got in my zone, so I was like, okay, maybe today's my day, you know. I was feeling really well. I was feeling confident. So I was like, I want to take the bowlers on. (on Tewatia) He's very important player for us. So very happy that he finished the game. That was one of the conversations that we had in the timeout. We lost, I think, couple more wickets that [than] we would have liked, but in the end I think he got some nice runs and everyone got some hit in the middle."

Stats by Roshan Gede

Most balls to spare for GT in a successful chase
37 vs RR, Jaipur, 2023
25 vs RCB, Ahmedabad, 2026
20 vs CSK, Chennai, 2026
20 vs SRH, Hyderabad, 2025

All eight matches between these two sides have been won by the chasing side, four apiece for both.

GT in run-chases in the IPL
Matches: 39
Wins: 26
Defeats: 13
Win%: 66.67%
W/L ratio: 2

They have the most wins and are the best on the last two parameters among the 10 teams since 2022.

Today was the 13th instance of 10 or more wickets falling in Overs 7-15 across both innings of an IPL match. 2026 is the first edition to feature multiple such instances, the previous also coming at this venue (GT vs RR)

Jos Buttler: "Really good batting surface. I think the bowlers deserve a lot of credit there. And one of the biggest differences, I think, for us was taking our catches today. (did nip around early on?) Yeah, it did. There was a bit in it. Some fantastic bowlers on show, obviously, with the new ball. Siraj and Rabada have been great for us, and obviously in the opposition as well. So Shubman talked about trying to put them off their lengths because they're such good bowlers. So credit to him for going and doing that. (on his plans against Bhuvneshwar) I think initially, as I've said, they're such good bowlers, they're so accurate. Those guys are trying to change their lengths, put them off their lines. When I got dismissed, got a bit greedy there. Obviously, I had a big gap at mid-wicket. So trying to expose that, and yeah, nice piece of bowling from Bhuvi. (on Gill's tactics vs Hazlewood) Absolutely phenomenal. We spoke about it before the match. So like you said, when your leader goes out there and does exactly what he spoke about, so calmly, so clinically, against, you know, a top, top bowler, I think that gave a lot of confidence and broke the back of the chase very early. (big two points today) Massive two points for us. We're in that scenario where we need to hold on to those guys ahead of us, and we play a lot of them as well. So, massive time in the tournament and a really important win today."

Rajat Patidar | RCB captain: "Obviously, I think the score was not good enough on this track, but I think the way we bowled and stretched it to 15, 16 overs, I think that's a positive sign for us. (the pitch had something) Definitely, there's a good cover of the grass on the surface that helped fast bowlers. And as we said, I think the way Shubman played, I think he played beautifully in the powerplay. And he put the pressure on us, but the way we came back and stretched, as I said, stretched till 16th over, I think that's a positive. (learnings from this one?) I think it's pretty clear. I think we gave lot of wickets in the middle and that kept us on the back seat. (on Bhuvneshwar) As we all know, I think he's an experienced bowler of T20 format and the way he bowled in the first half, I think that is incredible. But I think it's a long way and we'll take one game at a time. (long way to go still) Definitely, but we are not looking at it on the table. But our aim is to play a good cricket."

23:03 Local Time, 17:33 GMT, 23:03 IST: RCB with a good effort to take 6 wickets and take this till the 16th over. But 155 on this pitch was never going to trouble GT and they won with overs to spare in the end. Gill earlier on was on a mission as he attacked Hazlewood and set the tone. 24 came off the 2nd over of the innings and it looked like Gill was in the mood to finish it off early. But Bhuvneshwar bowled superbly and got the breakthroughs. Three of them and he gave his side hope. Shepherd chipped in with two but the impact sub - Rahul Tewatia played a calm hand and ensured GT won. RCB would've hoped for a better showing with the bat but tonight was not theirs and they would look to correct that soon. GT now have won two in a row. Stay tuned for the post-match stuff....