GT won toss, elected to field against RCB
No Phil Salt in Royal Challengers Bengaluru team
For Titans, Kulwant Khejroliya came in place of Arshad Khan
Phil Salt did not find a place in Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) playing XI or impact substitute list for the all-important Qualifier 1 against Gujarat Titans (GT) at Dharamsala in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 on Tuesday (May 26).
ALSO READ: RCB Vs GT Live Score
Salt’s fitness had become one of the biggest talking points around the Bengaluru-based franchise after the England wicketkeeper-batter recently returned from England following treatment on his injured finger. Asked about Salt's availability on match eve, RCB skipper Rajat Patidar did not provide a definitive answer but confirmed that the English batter had resumed training activities with the squad.
"He is fit and doing drills but we have not decided the playing XI yet," Patidar had said in the pre-match conference. But the think tank decided against going with the English opener, eventually.
Meanwhile, GT skipper Shubman Gill won the toss and elected to bowl first. Left-arm pacer Kulwant Khejroliya came in place of Arshad Khan in the Titans' XI.
Gill cited the likelihood of dew later in the evening as his reason for the decision to field. Patidar said he would have bowled first too, but added that he expected the surface to play similarly across the 40 overs.
RCB Vs GT, IPL 2026 Qualifier 1: Playing XIs
Gujarat Titans: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Washington Sundar, Nishant Sindhu, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Kulwant Khejroliya, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Venkatesh Iyer, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Duffy, Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Salam Dar
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Impact Substitutes: Romario Shepherd, Suyash Sharma, Kanishk Chouhan, Abhinandan Singh, Jordan Cox
Gujarat Titans Impact Substitutes: Rahul Tewatia, Glenn Phillips, Anuj Rawat, Kumar Kushagra, Sai Kishore
The winner of this match will advance to the May 31 final, while the losing side will head to Qualifier 2 on May 29.
