New Delhi: Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) captain Rajat Patidar said the opener Full salt He is fit ahead of their IPL 2026 Qualifier 1 clash against Gujarat Titans in Dharamsala on Tuesday, but added that the team management is yet to decide whether he will be part of the playing XI.After featuring in the first six matches of the season, Salt was ruled out of the latter part of the league stage due to injury. Speaking at the pre-match press conference on Monday, Patidar said the England batsman is still under observation. “Namak is fit, he is under observation. But we have not decided our playing XI yet. We will look at the wicket and then decide.”RCB topped the points table with 18 points from 14 matches, ahead of GT on net run rate after both teams were level on points. The winner of Qualifier 1 will go straight to the IPL final, while the losing team will get another chance through Qualifier 2 against the winner of the eliminator between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals on Friday.Patidar said that RCB’s focus is on qualifying directly for the finals.“Win and go to the finals. That’s what we’ve done since day one,” he said.Despite topping the points table, Patidar described the clash against GT as evenly balanced.“On the given day, the team that performs better under pressure will win. We just need to hold our nerve.”RCB will face Gujarat’s bowling attack which has been the most consistent this season. Patidar, however, backed his own bowlers to respond strongly after a forgettable dismissal against SRH in the last league game.Bhuvneshwar Kumar The match featured a costly dismissal, but Patidar said the veteran fast bowler was key to RCB’s plans.“He’s an experienced bowler. The last match didn’t go the way we wanted but bowling is our strength and the way we bowl in the powerplay, I think that will be very important (against GT). So we look for early wickets and that’s what we’ve done so far. Bhuvi, Hazlewood and Rask have been doing that. So we hope to continue that process.”
