New Delhi: The winner of Qualifier 1 – be it defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru or Gujarat Titans – will book a direct berth in the IPL 2026 final. The summit match will be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. During the pre-qualifier 1 press conference, the RCB skipper Rajat Patidar The defending champions were asked about the possibility of missing out on playing the final at their home ground, the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, if they qualify for the title.BCCI has moved the IPL 2026 final to Ahmedabad citing operational reasons. “It’s not in my power. I think the BCCI has to decide where the final will be held. It’s a historic venue, so wherever the final is going to be, that’s where it’s going to be. We are focused on reaching the finals,” Patidar told reporters.RCB will carry the confidence of the defending champions into Qualifier 1 when they take on Gujarat Titans at the beautiful HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala on Tuesday.The winner will go directly to the final in Ahmedabad on Sunday, while the loser will get another chance through Qualifier 2.Both RCB and GT finished the league stage with 18 points from 14 matches, with RCB taking the top spot due to a better net run rate after a consistently strong campaign.Patidar also admitted that it is becoming increasingly difficult for bowlers to survive a 200-plus total in an IPL season. The RCB skipper admitted that even scores of 220-250 are no longer safe and said conditions have made life difficult, especially for the fast bowlers.“I think it’s more challenging for the bowlers. The wickets are batting friendly, the boundary is small and there is dew. Especially for the fast bowlers, even a small mistake leads to a six,” Patidar said during the pre-match media interaction.“But whatever wickets or conditions we get, we just try to do our best,” he added. It is not in my hands to decide what the wicket should be.’“Both the teams have performed very well throughout the season. On the given day, whichever team executes their plans better and remains calm under pressure is going to win,” he said.troops:Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Rajat Patidar (captain) Virat Kohli.Gujarat Titans: Shibman Gill (captain), Jos Buttler (wicket), Kumar Kshagra, Glenn Phillips, Rashid Khan, Manu Sattar, Nishant Sindhu, Washington Sundar, Mohammad Siraj, Parsed Krishna, Kagiso Rabada, Roysrinivasan Sai Kishore, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Lloyd, Holwood, Holwood, Holwood, Window, Holder Sai Sudharsan, Rahul Teotiya, Arshad Khan, Anuj Rawat, Kalwant Khajrulia, Gurnoor Brar, M. Shah Rukh Khan
