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Rajat Patidar chose to field first. He described it as a bowl-first pitch noting the absence of grass on the surface makes it slightly tacky in the first innings before it eases up under lights.

The bigger team news from RCB is that Phil Salt has been injured and Jacob Bethell comes in to replace him making his first appearance of IPL 2026. Gujarat Titans have made two changes with Jason Holder making his debut for the franchise and Manav Suthar returning to the XI.

GT arrive at the Chinnaswamy sitting seventh on the table after their 99-run humiliation against MI and desperately needing a result to stay in the playoff conversation.

RCB vs GT: What both captains said at the toss

Patidar was direct about the decision. "I just feel this will be a bowl-first pitch. Chasing gives us a lot of clarity about the result, the score and the total. Whenever you come here at Chinnaswamy it's a good wicket to bat on but there's no grass on it so first innings it might be a bit tacky. One change. Salty got injured, Bethell is in."

He also noted that assessing conditions well has been one of RCB's strengths this season and the planning behind every toss decision has been deliberate.

Gill was measured at the toss. "Generally on this ground teams that have been chasing have had good success but this looks like an even wicket. If you get off to a good powerplay you can build on that. That's the challenge for us. Games like that can happen in a big tournament referring to the MI loss. It's very important to keep reminding ourselves of the things that bring us the best success. We have got a couple of changes. Jason Holder makes his debut and Manav Suthar comes back."

RCB vs GT: The teams the standings and what both sides need tonight

RCB sit third on the table with four wins from six games and a net run rate of plus 1.171. Virat Kohli has 247 runs this season and Patidar has 230 with both men in the top ten of the Orange Cap race. Bhuvneshwar Kumar leads their bowling with 10 wickets at an economy of 8.33.

The defending champions are firmly in the playoff hunt and a win tonight with Josh Hazlewood back in the side gives them the opportunity to close the gap on the top two.

GT sit seventh with three wins and three losses and a net run rate of minus 0.821 that reflects the scale of the MI defeat. Shubman Gill remains in elite form with 251 runs at an average of 62.75 and sits second in the Orange Cap race.

Prasidh Krishna has 12 wickets and is fourth in the Purple Cap standings. A win tonight is essential for GT to stay alive in the playoff race and the inclusion of Holder gives them an extra pace dimension that was missing in their recent games.

RCB vs GT Playing XI

RCB XI: Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Salam Dar.

GT XI: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Washington Sundar, Shahrukh Khan, Jason Holder, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Manav Suthar, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj.

RCB vs GT Impact Players

Royal Challengers Bengaluru Impact subs: Jacob Bethell, Jordan Cox, Mangesh Yadav, Vicky Ostwal, Venkatesh Iyer.

Gujarat Titans Impact subs: Prasidh Krishna, Anuj Rawat, Glenn Phillips, Nishant Sindhu, Arshad Khan

Also READ: From Rehan Ahmed to Akash Madhwal: List of all injury replacements in IPL 2026