By Admin 
Royal Challengers Bangalore has defeated Gujarat Titans by 92 runs in the first qualifier match. Bengaluru has now become the first team to reach the final of IPL 2026. Gujarat Titans team, which came to chase the record target of 255 runs, collapsed for 162 runs. Rajat Patidar’s captaincy inning of 93 runs and then the strong performance of the bowlers gave RCB a historic victory.
By winning the first qualifier, Royal Challengers Bangalore has gone straight to the finals. Now she will stake her claim for the trophy on May 31 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Captain Rajat Patidar’s unbeaten inning of 93 runs laid the foundation of Bengaluru’s victory. After that almost all the bowlers of Bengaluru wreaked havoc on Gujarat Titans.
RCB in the final for the 5th time
This is the fifth time in the history of IPL that the Bengaluru team has reached the finals. Bengaluru has previously entered the finals in 2009, 2011, 2016, 2025 and now in 2026. RCB has come to third place in terms of reaching the finals most number of times. Only Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians are ahead of him.
Only Rahul Tewatia could score big for Gujarat Titans. Tewatia scored 68 runs in 43 balls and this was his first half-century innings in the entire season. Jos Buttler scored 29 runs, but all the other batsmen flopped.
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Patidar reached the final
The foundation of Bengaluru’s victory was laid by Rajat Patidar’s captaincy innings. He scored 93 runs in just 33 balls. In this explosive innings, 5 fours and 9 sixes came from Patidar’s bat. Apart from him, Virat Kohli contributed 43 runs and Krunal Pandya also contributed 43 runs.
Under the captaincy of Patidar, RCB has become only the third team which has made it to the finals despite being the defending champion. Before that only Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings have been able to do this. Gujarat’s batting was devastated by the opening spell of Jacob Duffy, who dismissed three batsmen in the entire match. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has again got the Purple Cap by taking 2 wickets.
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