Gujarat Titans will take on defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the 42nd match of the ongoing IPL 2026 at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Thursday. The red soil pitch is going to assist the batters and RCB head coach Andy Flower is not expecting anything different.
“We’re playing on the pitch six, which is a 75% red soil. It’s the same strip that we played the final on last year. And it usually plays very well, that strip. So we’d anticipate it playing very well again,” said RCB head coach Andy Flower on the eve of the contest.
RCB’s batters have been in prime form and they have adopted a fearless approach irrespective of the match situation. This brave template has helped them achieve a Net Run Rate of +1.919, which is the best for any team in the tournament.
RCB’s batting has always been their strength over the years but now their bowling is also coming to the party. Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar had wreaked havoc in the last game against DC.
On the other hand, Gujarat Titans also have a positive result while playing on their home turf. Their top three batters have played a key role in their success but there is no doubt that their middle order needs to fire.
Head to Head: Matches: 7, Won by RCB: 4, Won by GT: 3.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Squad: Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar(c), Jitesh Sharma(w), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Salam Dar, Jacob Bethell, Jordan Cox, Mangesh Yadav, Vicky Ostwal, Venkatesh Iyer, Jacob Duffy, Swapnil Singh, Philip Salt, Nuwan Thushara, Vihaan Malhotra, Abhinandan Singh, Kanishk Chouhan, Satvik Deswal
Gujarat Titans Squad: Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Shubman Gill(c), Jos Buttler(w), Shahrukh Khan, Washington Sundar, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Arshad Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Manav Suthar, Rahul Tewatia, Anuj Rawat, Glenn Phillips, Kulwant Khejroliya, Nishant Sindhu, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Luke Wood, Prasidh Krishna, Sai Sudharsan, Kumar Kushagra, Gurnoor Brar, Ashok Sharma, Connor Esterhuizen
