Shubman Gill-led Gujarat Titans won the toss in Qualifier 1 and chose to send Royal Challengers Bengaluru in to bat first at Dharamsala. The venue has been particularly unforgiving for sides batting first this season, with both of the night contests here ending in favour of the chase. It was also a familiar pattern between these two outfits so far in the tournament, with each of their earlier meetings decided by the team that batted second.
Bengaluru entered the match still adjusting to an injury setback in their batting group. Phil Salt, their preferred opener alongside Virat Kohli, had picked up a hand problem mid-campaign. While Kohli was back in action after time away with England, Salt had not been slotted back into either the starting XI or even the bench. Venkatesh Iyer was therefore set to open the innings in his stead.
RCB’s XI featured a notable reshuffle at the point of selection, bringing in Jacob Duffy in place of Romario Shepherd for the bat-first role. The decision created a flexible pathway for the rest of the game: Shepherd could still be called upon as an Impact Player if needed, while legspinner Suyash Sharma would get an opportunity in the playing group only in the scenario where Shepherd was not required to bat.
Gujarat, meanwhile, also made a late call. Kulwant Khejroliya was named in the XI for his first appearance since April 9. There was still some uncertainty around Arshad Khan’s fitness after he was left out, but the combination that took the field suggested a clear plan. Mohammed Siraj was backed by a pace-heavy bowling setup as well, with M Prasidh Krishna included in the bowl-first XI—an indication that Gujarat were mindful of Dharamsala’s track, which has repeatedly shown it is not particularly spinner-friendly. With Rahul Tewatia expected to be an option during the chase, it was likely that either Krishna or Khejroliya would have to make way for him depending on how the innings unfolded.
Playing XIs
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Venkatesh Iyer, 3 Devdutt Padikkal, 4 Rajat Patidar (capt.), 5 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 6 Tim David, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Jacob Duffy, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Rasikh Salam
RCB bench: Romario Shepherd, Suyash Sharma, Kanishk Chohan, Abhinandan Singh, Jordan Cox
Gujarat Titans: 1 Shubman Gill (capt.), 2 B Sai Sudharsan, 3 Jos Buttler (wk), 4 Washington Sundar, 5 Jason Holder, 6 Nishant Sindhu, 7 Rashid Khan, 8 Kulwant Khejroliya, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 M Prasidh Krishna
GT bench: Rahul Tewatia, Glenn Phillips, Anuj Rawat, Kumar Kushagra, Sai Kishore
