RCB vs GT Highlights, IPL 2026 Final: Dominant Royal Challengers Bengaluru claim back-to-back IPL titles

RCB remain unchanged – Venkatesh Iyer persisted with.

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

Impact: Venkatesh Iyer, Kanishk Chohan, Swapnil Singh, Abhinandan Singh, Jordan Cox

GT bring in Arshad Khan for Kishore – their only change for the night.

Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Washington Sundar, Rahul Tewatia, Nishant Sindhu, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Arshad Khan, Mohammed Siraj

Impact: Prasidh Krishna, Glenn Phillips, Anuj Rawat, Kumar Kushagra, Sai Kishore

RCB vs GT Live Score: Toss goes Rajat Patidar's way in Ahmedabad, and he opts to BOWL first!

The team news up next.

Very quickly approaching the single most important toss of the season now. This ground is one where the batting or bowling first has alternated throughout the year, with four teams winning after batting first – so it should be an excellent contest either way, with runs on the board so crucial in finals but chasing always a touch easier in T20 games.

Where this match might be won and lost is how Gill and Sudharsan fare in the powerplay. Both GT openers showed their class through the second Qualifier, but were removed cheaply in Dharamshala. If they are dismissed early, GT don't have the kind of batting to stay too competitive – but if they find a groove, they tend to be able to put piles of pressure on any bowling team, even one as good as RCB.

The teams last met in Qualifier 1 after finishing first and second in the group stage. In Dharamshala, RCB were put in to bat first. GT might have thought they were in control 10 overs through, but the script flipped quickly thanks to Rajat Patidar playing a fast and furious knock of 93*, blazing the ball to all parts. After that, it was too big a score already – and GT's batting collapsed to the new ball for a heavy loss.

GT not the only ones returning – RCB were here, at this venue in this game, only last year. All the pressure was on them to try and end their long IPL duck, and they succeeded by taking wickets at the right times against Punjab Kings. This is a group of players who have the confidence and the capability from having been here before.

Gujarat Titans, since they were instituted in 2022, have been all about consistency. Only one year in which they missed the playoffs, and now, a third time they will play in the final. They won the first of these, and were inches away before losing the second – but this is a team that knows what it is all about at this stage of the tournament.

At this stage of the tournament, the only thing that matters is winning this match and winning the trophy. It is rare that losing finalists are remembered, while winners go into the books and tend to never leave. RCB are a decade removed from being perhaps the most memorable losing finalists in IPL history, and they won't want that particular bit of history to repeat – the pressure is off to end the drought, and the chance is here to streak up the victors' leaderboard.

RCB vs GT LIVE Score: It's the big day in the Indian summer – all our TV screens have been set on the IPL over the last two months, and before we bid farewell for another 10 months, first, a victor needs to be crowned. Back over to Ahmedabad for the final, where RCB play GT. Much and more to discuss – stay tuned!