GT won toss, elected to field against RCB
Bengaluru started strongly, courtesy 72-run stand between Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal
Duo equalled the second highest number of half-century alliances in an IPL season
Virat Kohli brought up his seventh fifty-plus partnership of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season with Devdutt Padikkal on Tuesday (May 26, 2026). With their 72-run stand during the Qualifier 1 between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Gujarat Titans (GT) in Dharamsala, the duo equalled the second highest number of half-century alliances in an IPL season.
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Kohli has a history of forging such tournament-shaping alliances; he holds the record along with Faf du Plessis, with eight 50-plus partnerships in IPL 2023. Kohli had also complied seven such stands with his trusted ally AB de Villiers in the 2016 edition.
Former India captain Kohli and elegant southpaw Padikkal were stroking the ball superbly and looked like propelling RCB to a mammoth total, before both of them lost their wickets to Jason Holder in the space of three balls. Senior pro Krunal Pandya and captain Rajat Patidar took charge post that, as Bengaluru kept up their quest of posting a challenging total.
Earlier, GT skipper Shubman Gill won the toss and elected to bowl first. Phil Salt did not find a place in RCB's line-up, while left-arm pacer Kulwant Khejroliya came in place of Arshad Khan in the Titans' XI.
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.
