Gujarat Titans captain Shubman Gill and Rajasthan Royals skipper Riyan Parag were left scratching their heads after a chaotic moment at the toss during the IPL 2026 Qualifier 2 at Mullanpur on Friday. Gill had called for the coin, but Parag’s response was apparently not clear enough for the match referee to register. Gill believed he had the upper hand and the toss was his, yet confusion briefly spilled onto the field before Ravi Shastri stepped in and confirmed that the toss would be repeated.
When the process was restarted, Parag’s call was loud and unmistakable. He then won the toss and chose to bat first against Gujarat Titans. At the same time, Parag indicated that the pitch looked largely similar to what everyone had been seeing, while also suggesting it might become slower as the innings progressed. He added that their side simply needed to execute better across the full 40 overs, expressing confidence that the team that plays best cricket would come out on top. Parag also acknowledged the support staff, pointing to their work around recoveries and injuries.
“We will bat first. Pretty much the same wicket, but I think it slows down at the backend, and we have the bowlers for it. We just need to play better cricket for 40 overs, the best team will win. The support staff have been incredible about recoveries and injuries. Same team,” Parag said at the toss.
Gill, for his part, suggested that Gujarat would have also chosen to bat first even if he had held on to the toss originally. He noted that the pitch had already seen a full 40-over contest and would not suddenly transform, and stressed that this was a high-pressure “now or never” scenario. Gill also revealed a tactical change: Sai Kishore was back in the XI.
“We would have batted first as well. Forty overs of cricket already on this wicket and it won’t behave differently. We have everything to play for, it’s a now or never situation. One change: Sai Kishore is back,” Gill said.
Playing XIs
Rajasthan Royals
- Yashasvi Jaiswal
- Vaibhav Sooryavanshi
- Dhruv Jurel (w)
- Riyan Parag (c)
- Donovan Ferreira
- Dasun Shanaka
- Ravindra Jadeja
- Jofra Archer
- Nandre Burger
- Brijesh Sharma
- Yash Raj Punja
Gujarat Titans
- Sai Sudharsan
- Shubman Gill (c)
- Jos Buttler (w)
- Nishant Sindhu
- Washington Sundar
- Jason Holder
- Rashid Khan
- Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore
- Kagiso Rabada
- Prasidh Krishna
- Mohammed Siraj
