RCB blow apart Gujarat Titans to carve history at the Chinnaswamy in a high-octane chase

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru carved history in their last home game of the IPL 2026 group stages at Chinnaswamy, chronicling their highest successful chase at the venue. RCB returned to winning ways, edging past Gujarat Titans comfortably, despite a late hiccup in a high-octane run-chase.

Winning the toss, RCB opted to bowl first. They made just one change to the side: Jacob Bethell replaced the injured Phil Salt. On a surface that was deadbeat, the batters had the upper hand. As soon as the lacquer came off, Sai Sudharsan switched on his beast mode while Shubman Gill was happy to anchor the innings at the other end.

The duo of Sudharsan (100) and Shubman Gill (32) added 128 runs from the first 13 overs, threatening to post a mountain on the board. Suyash Sharma drew first blood for RCB, removing Gill. However, that did very little to deter GT from going high.

Things changed though after the departure of Shubman Gill as an incoming Jos Buttler (25) needed time to settle down. That forced an added responsibility on Sudharsan only for RCB to rein things back in moderately. Sudharsan fell for a well-orchestrated ton as Josh Hazlewood caught him off his own bowling, striking at the right time, complicating matters for the visitors.

Buttler was on his way back soon enough to leave Gujarat in a tricky position as they had 177 on the board for the loss of three wickets and they had only 14 balls to try and push for something north of 210 after the grandiloquent start that they had.

With the surface not doing much, RCB had their priorities sorted and they wanted to restrict Gujarat to 200 or maybe less. However, Rasikh Salam Dar’s late injury forced Krunal Pandya to come into the attack and that allowed GT some late momentum as they crossed the 200-run barrier, with Jason Holder smashing an unbeaten 23 off just 10 balls.

GT posted 205/3 from their 20 overs which certainly looked gettable on the track that threw very minimal shenanigans. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the pick of the bowling lot with figures of 1/31 from his allotment of four overs. To win their 50th game at Chinnaswamy, RCB needed a record chase.

Jacob Bethell and Virat Kohli were shouldered with the onus of negotiating with the new ball. Bethell’s (14) start to the tournament saw him hitting three fours for sure but he couldn’t really get the motor running as Mohammed Siraj removed him from the equation early.

Dealt an early jolt, RCB needed a knock of patience. However, an incoming Devdutt Padikkal had completely different plans and he went off-board from the idea of being cagey. For Devdutt, the idea was simple: see ball, hit ball. The very first ball that he faced from Kagiso Rabada was gunned at him at 153 kays and he flicked it over deep square leg for a maximum.

That was the beginning of something magnificent and RCB got off the leash, switched gears and all Gujarat Titans could do was play fetch. Kohli and DDP toyed with the bowlers at will and the same surface that exhibited traces of being deadbeat was soon turned into a grave for the bowlers.

Padikkal brought up his half-century in style, hammering Rashid Khan for a maximum over deep square leg. He completed his third half-century of IPL 2026 from just 20 balls. Virat seized his momentum and brought up his 66th IPL half-century with a single against Rabada in just 30 balls.

As the duo hacked away for fun, adding 115 runs from just 59 balls, RCB were on the right track, en route to the chase. Eventually after all the fireworks, Padikkal succumbed to Rashid Khan, departing for a 27-ball-55. Much to RCB’s woes, they lost Kohli soon as the King walked back for a 44-ball-81, hammering eight fours and four sixes.

The Royal Challengers had no intent to relent and Rajat Patidar walked in with murderous intent while Jitesh Sharma wanted to go big too. The duo did get a start adding 17 runs in just eight balls, chipping away further at the number on the board but a sudden double whammy from Gujarat saw RCB walk into a wobble.

They lost Jitesh (10) and Rajat Patidar (8) in quick succession, reducing them to 173/5. With 33 to win from 27 balls, they needed a bit of caution and a solid show from the incoming batters to efface any fears of a late collapse. Once again, it was RCB’s batting depth that came to the fore as Krunal Pandya and Tim David negated the early fears and they were quick to change gears after the nerves were settled, winning the game with seven balls to spare.

Pandya blasted an unbeaten 23 off just 12 balls, hammering three fours and a six while David anchored the remainder of the innings to take RCB across the finish line. RCB completed their 50th win at Chinnaswamy to scrip the highest-ever successful chase in the history of the venue. Virat Kohli walked away with the Player of the Match award while RCB climbed upto the second position in the points table.