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IPL 2026 has got its first finalist. In the Qualifier-1 match played on the beautiful ground of Dharamshala, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) defeated Gujarat Titans by a huge margin of 92 runs and got a direct ticket to the final. RCB’s dominance in this entire match was so much that Gujarat team was not seen standing anywhere in the match. Batting first, RCB had set a huge and mountain-like target of 255 runs for Gujarat, under the pressure of which the entire Gujarat team fell apart like a pack of cards. After this crushing defeat, Gujarat Titans captain Shubman Gill looked very disappointed and angry and he has revealed the biggest reason for the defeat. Captain Rajat Patidar got two lives. At the beginning of the heavy match, Gujarat Titans won the toss and invited RCB to bat first. RCB’s legendary opener Virat Kohli gave a strong start to the team by playing a quick inning of 43 runs. After this, Krunal Pandya made a good contribution of 43 runs and Devdutt Padikkal made 30 runs. But the real hero of the match was RCB captain Rajat Patidar, who rained runs as soon as he came on the field. Batting at a strike rate close to 300, Patidar played an explosive inning of 93 unbeaten runs in just 33 balls, which included 9 brilliant sixes and 5 fours. Gujarat’s poor fielding played a big role in RCB reaching this huge score. During this historic innings, Rajat Patidar got two big lives due to the mistakes of Gujarat fielders. His first catch was missed by Kagiso Rabada, while the second catch fell to the ground due to lack of coordination between Jos Buttler and Kulwant Khejroliya. Gujarat had to pay the price of these missed catches by losing the match. After the defeat, Shubman Gill hinted at setting up a class for the fielders. Captain Shubman Gill looked extremely upset with such childish mistakes in big and knockout matches like the qualifiers. Expressing his displeasure after the match, Gill said, "I think till the 12th-13th over of the match, we were in a very good position and had control over the game. But our fielding today was not at all of the level that is expected in a qualifier match. Not only did we drop very important catches, but our ground fielding was also very poor. This is one of those bad matches that we would like to forget as soon as possible and make a completely fresh start in the next match in Mohali."

There will be a serious discussion on fielding mistakes in the upcoming team meeting. When Shubman Gill was asked whether work would be done on improving these fielding shortcomings in the upcoming practice sessions, he made it clear that this issue is an important part of the team’s strategies. Gill said, "Fielding is definitely a department that we talk about in depth in every team meeting and practice session. But perhaps today was not our day. There was full enthusiasm and enthusiasm among the players, but in big moments of pressure we could not perform as per expectations."

he adds, "To chase such big targets, it is very important to get a strong start in the powerplay. On a ground like Dharamshala, the outfield is very fast and the ball goes to the boundary in the blink of an eye. If we could get a few runs in the beginning and considering the nature of the wicket, our batsmen could hold on, then it was not impossible to achieve any target. But due to bad start and loose fielding, we were completely out of the match."

Despite this defeat, the journey of Gujarat Titans is not over yet. The team will now play the Qualifier-2 match at Mohali ground, where they will have one last chance to reach the final.