Shubman Gill marked the moment after the toss with a hint of celebration as the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 match between Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants got underway at the Ekana on Sunday. The Gujarat Titans captain won the coin toss and opted to bowl on a warm afternoon in Lucknow, and the quick cameras-and-crowd moment followed right after his interaction with the broadcaster. Gill, the India Test and ODI captain, broke into a small celebration that was hard to miss, smiling and gesturing as the buzz around the stadium kicked in.
The 26-year-old looked genuinely pleased with the result. It was also a notable milestone: for the right-handed batter, it was the first time he had come out on top in a toss during the 19th edition of the T20 league. Once his conversation with Murali Karthik wrapped up, the visuals captured Gill lifting his hands and sharing a laugh—an instinctive reaction that even filtered into the rest of the Gujarat group. The Titans, after all, had clinched the toss for the first time in the IPL 2026 season, and the mood in the dugout reflected that.
With the toss decision in place, attention quickly turned to team selection. For the encounter against Rishabh Pant’s Lucknow Super Giants, Gujarat named an unchanged XI, repeating the same combination that had featured in their most recent game versus Delhi Capitals. That match had ended with Gujarat prevailing by a single run, and the confidence from that narrow win carried into this contest.
Gill explained the thinking behind bowling first, pointing to the momentum they gained from their previous game. “We’ll field first. Two points in the last match gave us plenty of confidence. We’re looking to play better cricket and make sure the match doesn’t go right down to the last over. We’ve had a tremendous time, and consistency is crucial in a long tournament like the IPL. After 14 matches, the most consistent team usually ends up winning the tournament. Same team for us today,” Gill said.
Lucknow, for their part, also stuck with the same set of players that had taken the field in their prior match against Kolkata Knight Riders. Pant, speaking alongside the team’s intent, highlighted the message they had carried into the fielding effort in the last game. “But at the same time, in the last match we played, we talked about intent on the field. We always discuss that as a team, and it was great to see that when we were on the field we were putting bodies on the line. We’re playing with the same team,” Pant added.
Both franchises arrived at this clash on the back of wins, setting up a competitive opening to the contest. Gujarat Titans had edged past Delhi Capitals, while Lucknow had dominated KKR, powered by a match-winning burst by Mukul Choudhary. In the IPL 2026 standings so far, Lucknow had two wins to their name, whereas Gujarat had registered one victory heading into Sunday’s game.
Playing XIs
Lucknow Super Giants: Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Rishabh Pant (w/c), Ayush Badoni, Nicholas Pooran, Abdul Samad, Mukul Choudhary, Mohammed Shami, Avesh Khan, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Prince Yadav.
Gujarat Titans: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Jos Buttler (w), Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Ashok Sharma, Prasidh Krishna.
