New Delhi: A night to forget. That’s exactly how it is. Shabman Gul A recap of Gujarat Titans’ crushing defeat against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Qualifier 1 of IPL 2026 at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamshala on Tuesday. Gill’s decision to bowl first backfired badly as defending champions RCB piled up a massive 254/5 in 20 overs – the highest total recorded in the history of the IPL playoffs.Things got worse for the Gujarat Titans during the chase as they failed to put up any serious challenge and eventually collapsed for 162.The disappointment was evident on Gill’s face during the post-match presentation as the GT captain admitted that his side would like to quickly move on from the heavy defeat before heading into the all-important Qualifier 2.“(Surprised by the behavior of the pitch?) I mean, not really. I think we were going up pretty well until the 12th, 13th over, and I didn’t think our fielding was up to par, dropped a couple of catches, and then our ground fielding wasn’t right,” Gill said.“(There’s a lot to learn from this game for you as well?) Yeah, definitely, you know, it’s, like you said, it’s one of those games that we want to forget and start in Mohali,” he said.With the resounding win, RCB booked a direct spot in the finals of IPL 2026.Gujarat Titans, however, are still alive in the tournament and will now travel to Milanpur for Qualifier 2, where they will face the winner of the eliminator between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals.RCB skipper Rajat Patidar completely changed the game during the first innings after being dropped twice by the Gujarat fielders. The RCB skipper made GT pay handsomely, attacking almost every bowler he faced and reaching his half-century in just 21 balls.GT had a poor outing in the field as well, leaking crucial runs through misfields and nine balls at key moments.Patidar remained unbeaten with a sensational 93 off just 39 balls, hitting five fours and nine massive sixes in one of the biggest playoff innings in IPL history.Chasing 255, Gujarat Titans never recovered after losing wickets at regular intervals. New Zealand fast bowler Jacob Duffy led the charge for RCB with three wickets, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashikh Salam and Krunal Pandya took two wickets each.“(Is it? [fielding errors] Something you address in training?) No, it’s definitely something we address in team meetings and practice sessions as well. But like I said, I don’t think it was one day, the intensity was there, but in the pressure situations, we weren’t on target,” Gill said.“(Were you confident to cut to the chase?) I mean, it’s all about getting off to a good start, you know. If you get a good power play and on a ground like this we know the ball travels and the outfield is also very fast. So if you had a good start in the powerplay, the way the wicket was playing and the ground we were playing on, it could have been chased.GT’s innings also witnessed one of the unluckiest dismissals of the tournament as opener Sai Sudharsan was dismissed on a hit wicket in a strange manner.Sudharsan started aggressively against Duffy with two fours off the first two balls and looked poised for a big innings before disaster struck. While attempting a cut shot, the bat slipped from his hand and landed on the stumps as he started to run.“(On Sudharsan’s dismissal) Yeah, I mean, you don’t see that kind of dismissal very often. So it was very unfortunate,” Gill said.
