Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru delivered one of the most dominant playoff performances in IPL history, crushing Gujarat Titans by 92 runs in the Qualifier 1 to storm into their second consecutive final . The night belonged to the skipper Rajat Patidar, whose breathtaking unbeaten 93 off just 33 balls powered RCB to a record playoff total of 254/5.
Patidar’s innings was of pure destruction. The RCB captain smashed nine sixes at a strike rate above 280, turning the Dharamsala crowd electric with one of the finest knocks ever seen in an IPL playoff. His fearless approach after the RCB briefly lost momentum after the fall of Virat Kohli completely shifted the game in favour of Bengaluru. The knock also made Patida only the fifth captain in the PIL history to guide his side to back-to-back finals.
The dominance of RCB was extended into the bowling innings as well. With the Gujarat chase collapsing almost immediately, the open order failing apart inside the powerplay . One of the biggest talking points came when Sai Sudharsan suffered a bizarre hit-wicket dismissal after his bat slipped out of his hands and crashed into the stumps while attempting a shot. The rare dismissal summed up the disastrous evening of GT.
Amid the collapse, Rahul Tewatia produced a fighting knock which gave Gujarat fans something to cheer about. Batting lower down the order, Tewatia hammered 68 and broke MS Dhoni’s record for the highest score by a No 7 or a lower batter in an IPL playoff match . Though the innings came in a losing cause, it stood out as one of the few positives for the GT on an otherwise forgettable night
With the empathic win, RCB sealed a direct spot in the IPL 2026 final and strengthened their title defence hopes. Led by Rajat Patidar’s explosive captaincy knock, Bengaluru looks quite unstoppable in every department.
Sources: Times of India | Economic Times
