Come at the hour. Come at the man. The Gujarat Titans captain, Shubman Gill, stepped up when it mattered the most, coming up with a masterclass in the knockout Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 game against the Rajasthan Royals. In Qualifier 2 in Mullanpur, the 26-year-old led from the front, scoring a century and setting up the Titans’ win in the chase of 215. Gill came out all guns blazing, hitting Jofra Archer for two boundaries in the opening over of Gujarat’s chase. The GT captain did not put a foot wrong and ensured that the Titans got over the line with relative ease and comfort.
Gill did not look back from his opening over attack as he hammered Archer, Nandre Burger, Tushar Deshpande, and Brijesh Sharma inside the powerplay. By the time the powerplay got done, Gill had already raced to 29 off 19 balls. The right-handed batter got to his half-century off just 30 balls.
One expected the India Test and ODI captain to slow down and be the anchor in the 215-run chase; however, it wasn’t the case as the Gujarat Titans’ opening batter further increased the tempo of his innings, hammering runs for fun. Eventually, Gill got to his century off just 47 balls. He achieved the milestone off the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja in the 14th over.
After bringing up his century, Gill just removed his helmet, soaking in the applause from the Mullanpur crowd. This 47-ball century was the fastest ton registered by a Gujarat Titans batter in the IPL. When the Gujarat skipper reached the milestone, Ravi Shastri, in commentary, stated the facts, saying, “He lives 30kms away from the ground.”
In the end, Gill returned with a 104-run knock off 52 balls as the Titans registered a comprehensive seven-wicket win with eight balls to spare. With this knock, Gill’s run tally also went past the 700-run mark in the IPL 2026 season, and he’s currently at the second spot on the Orange Cap leaderboard, only behind Rajasthan’s Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
Speaking of Gill, one must remember that he began Qualifier 2 miffed, considering what happened at the toss. The coin toss had to be conducted twice after the match referee didn’t hear Riyan Parag’s call at first. Gill would have won the toss had the referee heard properly, but as fate would have it, Gujarat lost the toss after the coin came down as heads on the second attempt. However, Gill channelled his anger properly, leading the side from the front and ensuring yet another final for the Titans.
How did the match unfold?
Earlier, the Rajasthan Royals captain Riyan Parag won the toss and opted to bat. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi then came up with a 96-run knock to help the Royals post 214 runs on the board. Ravindra Jadeja and Donovan Ferreira also returned with unbeaten knocks of 45 and 38.
At the halfway mark, it looked like the Royals had gotten enough considering the behaviour of the pitch. However, Gill and Sai Sudharsan (58) had other plans as the duo took the Royals’ bowling attack to the cleaners.
Gill and Sudharsan put on 167 runs for the opening wicket, and it seemed that the Royals wouldn’t even manage to get a single wicket. However, fate had other plans: for the second game in a row, Sudharsan was dismissed via hit wicket.
Just like the previous game against RCB, Sudharsan’s bat went back onto the stumps, and the left-handed batter sported a dejected look. When Sudharsan got out, the Titans still needed 49 runs for the win. It is also important to state that Sudharsan and Gill registered the highest partnership in the history of IPL playoffs.
But in the end, the Titans ensured there was no hiccup and the 2022 champions cruised to their third IPL final, setting up a summit clash against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Sunday, May 31, at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
