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Royal Challengers Bengaluru are going back to Ahmedabad. Rajat Patidar walked to the crease at 131 for 3 in the 12th over of Qualifier 1 in Dharamsala, with Gujarat Titans having just removed Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal in the same Jason Holder over to threaten the most dramatic of comebacks.
What happened next was one of the great individual playoff innings in IPL history. Ninety-three not out off 33 balls, the fastest innings of 90 or more in the history of the IPL, a captain's knock of breathtaking authority that turned a 131 for 3 platform into 254 for 4, the highest total ever posted in an IPL playoff match.
Against the best bowling attack in the tournament. On a ground where dew was supposed to favour the chasing side. RCB won with a margin so large that GT's fielding on what turned out to be an extraordinarily flat pitch will haunt Shubman Gill for the next few days. The defending champions are through to back-to-back finals. The last eight IPL winners have won Qualifier 1. That record holds.
RCB vs GT: How Bengaluru built their innings during Qualifier 1
Gujarat Titans won the toss and sent RCB in, a decision that looked reasonable on paper given Dharamsala's chase-friendly reputation and the dew factor under lights, but one that the pitch utterly confounded. Michael Clarke had called it a belter at the toss and he was not wrong.
Venkatesh Iyer gave RCB a brisk start in the powerplay before Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal settled into a 72-run partnership at excellent tempo, rotating the strike and picking off boundaries without ever taking unnecessary risks against Kagiso Rabada and Mohammed Siraj. The partnership looked like the foundation for something very large.
Then Jason Holder struck twice in the same over, removing Kohli and Padikkal in consecutive deliveries to reduce RCB to 131 for 3 and momentarily handing GT a way back into the match that they desperately needed to grasp.
RCB vs GT: Rajat Patidar explosion that ended the contest in Dharamshala
Rajat Patidar walked in at 131 for 3 and was dropped on 20, a moment of gift that GT will replay in their heads repeatedly over the coming days. From that reprieve Patidar produced an innings of such ferocity and precision that the scoreboard became almost irrelevant.
Thirty-three balls for 93 not out. Every bowler taken apart. Rashid Khan, the man who had controlled the middle overs of every game this season, offered no resistance. The RCB captain hit through the line, over the line and occasionally against the line with a fluency that belongs to a batter at the absolute peak of his powers.
In the time that Patidar scored 93 off 33 deliveries, the other end including extras contributed 68 off 37 legal balls, a remarkable illustration of just how dominant he was. Tim David chipped in usefully but this was Patidar's evening entirely.
RCB vs GT: Gujarat Titans' chase and why it was over before it began
RCB needed early wickets to make 254 defendable and they got them with extraordinary efficiency. The fast bowlers removed GT's top three inside the first five overs, exposing a middle order that had nowhere near the firepower to mount a 254-run chase on a surface that had not deteriorated.
Jos Buttler provided the only moment of genuine resistance with 29 off 11 balls, the kind of cameo that showed what might have been possible if others had stayed with him, before the batting collapsed entirely.
Rahul Tewatia batted with genuine stubbornness for 68 off 43 balls to at least spare GT the embarrassment of the heaviest defeat in IPL playoff history, but when Bhuvneshwar Kumar had him caught at extra cover in the final over it completed a victory that was never really in doubt after the 15th over of the first innings. Bhuvneshwar's wicket drew him level with Kagiso Rabada on 26 wickets for the season, though Bhuvneshwar's economy rate is the better of the two.
RCB will play IPL 2026 Final, what comes next for GT
RCB now have four days to rest and prepare in Ahmedabad before the May 31 final at the Narendra Modi Stadium. Gujarat Titans, having qualified through the top two, retain their chance at a Qualifier 2 appearance on May 29 in New Chandigarh against the winner of tomorrow's Eliminator between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals.
One of those three sides will join RCB in Ahmedabad. Shubman Gill admitted after the match that his team's fielding would be a concern and that GT would have struggled to restrict RCB to 200 even with better catching and ground fielding on the night. That honest assessment tells you GT know they were beaten by a team playing at a completely different level on this particular evening.
