NEW DELHI: Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper Rajat Patidar won the toss and opted to bowl first in the IPL 2026 final against Gujarat Titans on Sunday, saying his team expected their bowlers to strike early on a pitch he described as suitable for batting. The choice reignited one of the most familiar discussions in franchise cricket’s biggest game: whether the side that bats first or chases a target has a clearer path to the trophy.
Key takeaways
- Rajat Patidar won the toss in the IPL 2026 final and chose to bowl against Gujarat Titans.
- In the 18 IPL finals held before Sunday, teams batting first won 10 times, while teams chasing won 8.
- Captains have elected to field first in seven previous finals, with only three of those decisions ending in a title for the chasing team.
- The opening-overs emphasis was central to the debate, with Shubman Gill suggesting Gujarat Titans would have preferred to bat first due to possible early fast-bowling help.
- Patidar stressed that the pitch was unlikely to change much over the full 40 overs and that focus on the present mattered more than past outcomes.
Batting first vs chasing: what IPL history shows
Looking back at the 18 IPL finals staged prior to the title clash on Sunday, the numbers point to a modest advantage for the team that sets a target. In those games, the side batting first claimed the championship on 10 occasions, while the teams chasing succeeded in eight.
That slight edge is often linked to how finals play out psychologically. Even on tracks that generally support batters, the combination of nerves, pressure moments, and the size of the occasion can make chasing a far tougher proposition than the surface might suggest.
Still, the toss story is more layered than the headline totals. Captains have historically leaned towards bowling first in seven earlier IPL finals. Yet in just three of those instances did the side that chose to chase go on to win the trophy.
Notable examples from the “bowl first” playbook
The earliest case came in the inaugural final of 2008, when Rajasthan Royals beat Chennai Super Kings after deciding to field first. A similar pattern repeated in 2014, with Kolkata Knight Riders defeating Punjab after opting to bowl in the first innings.
Chennai Super Kings then delivered a successful chase in 2018, overcoming Sunrisers Hyderabad after taking the field first. Those results helped underline that while chasing is difficult, it is far from impossible when the chase is executed with clarity.
Why teams still gamble on bowling first
Not every “bowl first” decision has paid off. Several captains who chose to field in finals have watched their teams fall short when the opposition batted first. RCB themselves faced that kind of heartbreak in 2009, when they chose to chase against Deccan Chargers and ended up losing.
More recently, Kolkata suffered a defeat to Chennai in the 2021 final after opting to bowl, while Punjab Kings were also on the losing end in the 2025 summit clash against RCB after making a similar choice.
Despite those setbacks, Patidar appeared unconcerned about historical trends. The RCB captain indicated he expected the playing conditions to remain broadly consistent through the innings and emphasized the need to stay locked in on the game in front of them, rather than being weighed down by what happened in past finals.
Gujarat’s perspective and what could decide the final
From Gujarat Titans’ side, Shubman Gill said the team would likely have preferred to bat first regardless, believing that fast bowlers might gain some assistance in the earliest overs. With that in mind, the toss debate in the IPL 2026 final is unlikely to be settled by statistics alone.
Given the history points to only a slight tilt towards batting first, Sunday’s outcome may hinge more on execution under pressure than on any single decision made at the toss. In the end, who handles crucial phases better—powerplay control, middle-overs momentum, and composure in the closing overs—could decide who lifts the IPL 2026 trophy.
