GT Vs RCB, IPL 2026 Final: Why Is Sai Kishore Not Playing In Ahmedabad Showpiece?

After 73 gruelling matches, the Indian Premier League season is finally concluding with the IPL 2026 final between Gujarat Titans and Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday.

Ahead of the high-profile showdown in Ahmedabad, defending champions RCB won the toss and opted to bowl first, and skipper Rajat Patidar named an unchanged playing XI. GT captain Shubman Gill announced a single change: Arshad Khan coming in for Sai Kishore, with the latter named an impact substitute.

Also Read: GT vs RCB, IPL 2026 Final Live Score

Why is Sai Kishore Not Playing?

Despite signing him for INR 2 crore in the IPL 2025 auction, the GT management do not appear to fully trust Sai Kishore in crucial matches this year, and the all-rounder has been dropped in favour of pacer Arshad in the biggest match of the season.

In fact, Kishore has made just three appearances in IPL 2026, taking a single wicket. In contrast, Arshad has picked up five wickets in seven matches this season and has been brought in by Shubman as a tactical change to strengthen GT’s famed pace battery against RCB’s in-form batters.

GT vs RCB, IPL 2026 Final: Playing XIs

Gujarat Titans: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Washington Sundar, Rahul Tewatia, Nishant Sindhu, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Arshad Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj.

Impact Substitutes: Prasidh Krishna, Glenn Phillips, Anuj Rawat, Kumar Kushagra, Sai Kishore.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Duffy, Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Salam Dar.

Impact Substitutes: Venkatesh Iyer, Kanishk Chohan, Swapnil Singh, Abhinandan Singh, Jordan Cox.