RCB return to Ahmedabad less than a week on from chasing 206 in Bengaluru, with Gujarat asked the same question again
Gujarat Titans host Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Thursday night in a rematch nobody had time to settle. The two sides last met five nights ago in Bengaluru, where Sai Sudharsan made 100 off 58 balls and Gujarat still walked off on the wrong end of a Virat Kohli masterclass. RCB chased 206 with seven balls to spare, won by five wickets, and have not slowed down since.
Match 42 of IPL 2026 starts at 7.30pm IST in Ahmedabad. RCB sit second on 12 points from eight games, one behind Punjab Kings at the top after Punjab’s first defeat of the season at Mullanpur on Tuesday. Gujarat are fifth with four wins and four losses, eight points, and a net run rate that has slipped to negative.
RCB are travelling well
The defending champions arrive on the back of a nine-wicket annihilation of Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday, where Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar shared seven wickets between them and DC were rolled for 75 in 16.3 overs. RCB chased the target down in 6.3 overs. The net run rate of plus 1.919 is the best in the tournament, and the win column reads six from eight.
Kohli is back to his prolific best. He went past 9,000 IPL runs against Delhi, has 800-plus IPL fours and 300 sixes to his name now, and the version of him at this stage of IPL 2026 is a long way from someone who needs minding. Phil Salt sat out the Delhi game and is expected to come back in for Ahmedabad, which means the top three of Salt, Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal can be put back together. Padikkal made 55 off 27 in the win at the Chinnaswamy.
Gujarat’s problem is the middle
For Gujarat, Sudharsan continues to be the best news of their season. His 100 off 58 against RCB at the Chinnaswamy on April 24 took him past 2,000 IPL runs in 47 innings, the fastest anyone has reached the mark in the tournament’s history. His 87 against CSK at Chepauk two days later only added to the case that he is now the most dangerous opener in IPL 2026.
Shubman Gill has been the steady partner at the top, and Jos Buttler at three has been part of the order. The middle order is where Gujarat’s campaign keeps losing time. The lower middle has not closed innings the way the team-sheet wants it to, and a chase against an RCB that bowls Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar in the powerplay has to start without losing wickets early.
Two captains, one familiar pitch
The Modi Stadium is a true surface, batting friendly, with quick outfields and a habit of producing scores above 190. The dew is real later in the night and teams winning the toss have generally chosen to chase. RCB chased 206 against this opposition five nights ago at the Chinnaswamy. A first-innings score of 180 here would feel light.
Rajat Patidar carries on as RCB captain in the absence of any sign that Kohli wants the job back. Gill leads Gujarat. Both captains have settled XIs by this point of the season, both attacks have a clear pace-spin shape, and both teams know exactly what beat them last time. Gujarat will look at the death overs of the Bengaluru game and at Kohli’s 81 off 44 and want a different answer for the back end of the chase.
A Gujarat win would close the gap on the playoff places and put pressure on the chasers. An RCB win would draw them level on points with Punjab and confirm what most of the tournament already suspects, that the title-holders are the team in the form of the year.
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