What a night of cricket. What a chase. What a captain's knock.
The Gujarat Titans are heading to the IPL 2026 final. And they got there in the most thrilling way possible – by chasing down 215 runs against a bowling attack that had terrorized teams all season.
At the other end, a 15-year-old boy named Vaibhav Sooryavanshi played another incredible innings. He scored 96 runs off 47 balls. He hit sixes that landed in another postal code. But once again, he fell just short of a hundred. Once again, his team lost.
In the end, this match belonged to Shubman Gill. The Gujarat captain scored 104 runs off 53 balls – his fifth IPL hundred, his fastest for his team, and the first playoff hundred by any captain in IPL history.
Here is how it all went down.
Match at a Glance
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Match | IPL 2026, Qualifier 2 |
| Venue | Mullanpur (New Chandigarh) |
| Toss | Rajasthan Royals (elected to bat first) |
| Result | Gujarat Titans won by 7 wickets |
| Player of the Match | Shubman Gill (104 off 53 balls) |
| RR Total | 214/6 (20 overs) |
| GT Total | 219/3 (18.4 overs) |
| What's Next | Gujarat Titans vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru – Final, Sunday, May 31 in Ahmedabad |
The Toss That Had to Be Done Twice
Before the match even started, there was drama.
Riyan Parag called "heads" at the toss. The match referee did not hear him. Shubman Gill was not happy. The toss had to be taken again.
Parag called "heads" a second time – loud and clear. It landed heads. He chose to bat first. Gill later admitted he would have done the same.
Sometimes, the best thing that can happen to a chasing team is to lose the toss. Gujarat found that out the hard way – in the best possible sense.
Rajasthan Royals Innings – Sooryavanshi Fights Alone
Powerplay – Wickets Early, Then a Fightback
Gujarat's new-ball bowlers were back to their best. After a poor outing in Qualifier 1, Mohammed Siraj and Kagiso Rabada struck early.
| Over | Event |
|---|---|
| 1st over | Siraj removes Yashasvi Jaiswal (top edge on pull) |
| 2nd over | Rabada removes Dhruv Jurel (leading edge to mid-off) |
At that point, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi had faced just three balls. Gujarat was on top.
Then the teenager fought back. He hit three fours off Siraj in one over. Then a four and a straight six off Rabada. Rajasthan raced to 50 in 4.3 overs.
Powerplay Score: 70/2 (RR)
Middle Overs – Jadeja Shines Then Retires Hurt
Rajasthan promoted Ravindra Jadeja to number four. He played beautifully, scoring faster than Sooryavanshi for a while.
But Jadeja has a long-standing tennis elbow injury. The pain flared up. He had to retire hurt in the 9th over.
Without him, Rajasthan's innings stalled. Jason Holder used his height and the pitch's awkward bounce to remove Riyan Parag and Dasun Shanaka.
| Phase | Overs | Runs | Wickets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Middle overs (7-15) | 9 overs | 68 | 3 |
Sooryavanshi faced only nine balls in this entire period. He was completely stranded.
Death Overs – Sooryavanshi's 90s Heartbreak and Ferreira's Fireworks
Jadeja returned after the pain settled. He and Sooryavanshi added another fifty-run stand – their second of the innings.
Sooryavanshi reached his fifty in 31 balls – his slowest, but he had worked hard for it on a tricky pitch.
On 96, he tried an upper cut off Rabada – the same shot that got him out on 97 in the Eliminator. This time, Rabada bowled it higher. The edge came again. Caught at deep third. Four runs short of a hundred. Two matches in a row.
But Donovan Ferreira arrived and went berserk. He hit four sixes in the final over – bowled by Rashid Khan. That over alone went for 24 runs.
| Phase | Overs | Runs | Wickets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Death overs (16-20) | 5 overs | 76 | 1 |
Final Total: 214/6 in 20 overs
RR Batting Scorecard
| Batter | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | Strike Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yashasvi Jaiswal | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 133.33 |
| Vaibhav Sooryavanshi | 96 | 47 | 10 | 6 | 204.25 |
| Dhruv Jurel | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 133.33 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | 45* | 35 | 4 | 1 | 128.57 |
| Riyan Parag (c) | 12 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 133.33 |
| Dasun Shanaka | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Jofra Archer | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 120.00 |
| Donovan Ferreira | 38* | 11 | 0 | 5 | 345.45 |
| Extras | 4 | ||||
| Total | 214/6 | 20 overs | RR 10.70 |
GT Bowling Scorecard
| Bowler | Overs | Runs | Wickets | Economy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mohammed Siraj | 4 | 45 | 1 | 11.25 |
| Kagiso Rabada | 4 | 35 | 2 | 8.75 |
| Jason Holder | 4 | 27 | 2 | 6.75 |
| Rashid Khan | 4 | 48 | 0 | 12.00 |
| Washington Sundar | 2 | 22 | 0 | 11.00 |
| Prasidh Krishna | 2 | 33 | 0 | 16.50 |
Gujarat Titans Innings – The Chase That Looked Too Easy
Powerplay – Archer Has a Rare Bad Day
Jofra Archer has been Rajasthan's best bowler all season. But tonight, he had an off day.
In the very first over, he gave width to Sai Sudharsan twice and bowled on Gill's pads twice. Both openers hit boundaries. Four fours in the first over.
| Over | Runs |
|---|---|
| 1st over (Archer) | 16 runs |
Powerplay Score: 69/0 (GT)
Middle Overs – The 167-Run Masterclass
Sai Sudharsan got a life on 14 – Donovan Ferreira dropped a simple catch at deep square leg. That drop would cost RR dearly.
Sudharsan made them pay. He reached his fifty in 26 balls. Gill was even better.
By the 9th over, Gill had reached his fifty in 30 balls. By the 10th over, GT was 127 for 0 – 24 runs ahead of where RR was at the same stage.
Gill and Sudharsan added 167 runs in just 77 balls. It was their 11th century partnership in T20 cricket – a world record for any pair.
| Phase | Overs | Runs | Wickets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Middle overs (7-15) | 9 overs | 113 | 2 |
The Strangest Dismissal – Again
In the 13th over, Brijesh Sharma bowled a low full toss. Sudharsan sliced it to the boundary. But his bat slipped from his hands – and landed directly on the stumps.
Hit wicket. For the second match in a row. This was his third hit-wicket dismissal in the IPL – joint most in T20 history.
| Batter | Dismissal | Runs | Balls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sai Sudharsan | Hit wicket | 58 | 32 |
Gill's Historic Hundred
Sudharsan's dismissal did not slow Gill down. In the 14th over, he came down the track to Ravindra Jadeja and went inside out over cover for a four. That brought up his hundred – off just 47 balls.
Records from this innings:
| Record | Detail |
|---|---|
| Fastest T20 hundred for GT | 47 balls (Gill) |
| First player with multiple IPL playoff hundreds | Shubman Gill |
| First captain with a playoff hundred | Shubman Gill |
| Most century stands in T20 (pair) | 11 – Gill & Sudharsan |
Death Overs – Tewatia Finishes in Style
Gill fell to Archer – leg before wicket – with GT needing 33 runs from 30 balls. Washington Sundar hit a four and a six before falling. Then Rahul Tewatia finished the chase with two fours and a six off Brijesh Sharma in the 19th over.
| Phase | Overs | Runs | Wickets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Death overs (16-19) | 3.4 overs | 37 | 1 |
Final Total: 219/3 in 18.4 overs
GT Batting Scorecard
| Batter | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | Strike Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shubman Gill (c) | 104 | 53 | 15 | 3 | 196.22 |
| Sai Sudharsan | 58 | 32 | 7 | 2 | 181.25 |
| Washington Sundar | 14 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 200.00 |
| Rahul Tewatia | 17* | 9 | 2 | 1 | 188.88 |
| Extras | 6 | ||||
| Total | 219/3 | 18.4 overs | RR 11.73 |
RR Bowling Scorecard
| Bowler | Overs | Runs | Wickets | Economy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jofra Archer | 4 | 45 | 1 | 11.25 |
| Nandre Burger | 3 | 35 | 1 | 11.66 |
| Brijesh Sharma | 3 | 44 | 1 | 14.66 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | 2 | 22 | 0 | 11.00 |
| Tushar Deshpande | 3 | 38 | 0 | 12.66 |
| Yash Raj Punja | 2.4 | 29 | 0 | 10.87 |
Phase-by-Phase Comparison
| Phase | RR Score | GT Score | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Powerplay (1-6 overs) | 70/2 | 69/0 | GT -1 run (but 2 wickets saved) |
| Middle overs (7-15 overs) | 68/3 | 113/2 | GT +45 runs |
| Death overs (16-20 for RR, 16-19 for GT) | 76/1 | 37/1 | RR +39 runs (but GT had already won) |
The match was won in the middle overs. Gujarat scored 45 more runs than Rajasthan in that phase while losing fewer wickets. Game over.
Turning Points of the Match
| # | Moment | Why It Mattered |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Archer's expensive first over (16 runs) | Set the tone for the entire chase |
| 2 | Ferreira drops Sudharsan on 14 | Sudharsan went on to score 58 and add 167 with Gill |
| 3 | Gill reaches fifty in 30 balls | Required rate dropped below 10 and never rose again |
| 4 | The 167-run opening stand | By the time Sudharsan fell, the match was already over |
Records Broken on This Night
| Record | Player | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Highest successful chase in IPL playoffs | GT | 215 target chased in 18.4 overs |
| Fastest T20 hundred for GT | Shubman Gill | 47 balls |
| First player with multiple IPL playoff hundreds | Shubman Gill | 2 (previous: 104 vs MI, 2023 Q2) |
| First captain with a playoff hundred | Shubman Gill | 104 vs RR |
| Most century stands in T20 (pair) | Gill & Sudharsan | 11 partnerships |
| Most hit-wicket dismissals in IPL (joint) | Sai Sudharsan | 3 (with Andre Russell & Shoaib Malik) |
| Most sixes in an IPL season | Vaibhav Sooryavanshi | Extended his own record |
Final Thoughts
This match had everything. A toss controversy. A 15-year-old breaking records but falling short again. A captain's hundred for the ages. A bizarre hit-wicket dismissal two nights in a row. And a chase that made 215 runs look like a warm-up exercise.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will be back. He is only 15. His time will come.
But tonight belonged to Shubman Gill. He stood up when it mattered most. He carried his team to the final. And on Sunday, he will have a chance to lift the trophy in front of his home crowd.
Gujarat Titans vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Sunday. Ahmedabad. The final.
Do not miss it.