The greatest batting season by anyone in a T20 tournament became even greater with 96 against the best bowling attack of the tournament on a not-so-straightforward pitch, but a near-solo effort from Vaibhav Sooriyavanshi couldn’t drag Rajasthan Royals (RR) into the IPL 2026 final. Gujarat Titans (GT) executed the second-highest successful chase in any knockout or playoff match in all T20 cricket, setting up a repeat of Qualifier 1 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the final. This time, however, GT will be playing at their home ground in Ahmedabad.

Sooryavanshi’s IPL 2026 ended on 776 runs at a strike rate of 237.3 with this innings that was just as good as his 97 in the Eliminator albeit slower. He had to overcome an initially two-paced pitch, a weak RR middle order that turned chaotic with an injury to the new No. 4 Ravindra Jadeja, and a bowling attack that could exploit the conditions. From his slowest fifty – still only 31 balls – Sooryavanshi got to 96 off 47 but was caught at deep third with a century in sight for the second time in a row.

Sooryavanshi’s shots once again left jaws on the floor, but Shubman Gill and B Sai Sudarsan almost cruised through the chase right from the moment Jofra Archer got off to an indifferent start in the first over. Both of them followed Sooryavanshi into the 700s for this season but in their own style of taking fewer risks. The difference between the sides, though, was just that: Sooryavanshi was one, Gill and Sudharsan two.

Half an hour before the match began, Gill was furious at having to redo the toss because the match referee didn’t hear the call made by Riyan Parag. Both sides were desperate to bat first on a used pitch. Not for the first time, a team captained or coached by Kumar Sangakkara won a big toss on the second take, chose to bat first, and the opposition captain aced the chase in conditions that had improved for batting. Ravi Shastri conducted both the tosses for the broadcast, here and in the 2011 ODI World Cup final.

They went for 100 in seven overs between them in Qualifier 1, but GT’s two new-ball pillars, Mohammed Siraj and Kagiso Rabada, produced a wicket each in their first overs. They were back to hitting the good and hard lengths with regularity. Siraj was short of a length first four balls, hitting Sooryavanshi’s bat low on two occasions and then drawing a top edge to dismiss Yashasvi Jaiswal. Rabada defeated Dhruv Jurel with a 146kmph delivery that seamed away to force a mishit to mid-off in the second over.

In all likelihood, to provide Parag and Donovan Ferreira more favourable points of entry, RR promoted Jadeja to No. 4, and he did more than just see off the new ball. For a while he struck at a better rate than Sooryavanshi, who could hit just one six in the entire powerplay – straight into the sight screen off a 153kph hard-length ball from Rabada. Siraj bowled through the powerplay despite a shoulder injury.

Things were going smoothly for RR when the pain from the tennis elbow that Jadeja is carrying flared up, forcing him to retire hurt. Despite an ordinary first over from Rashid Khan that went for 18, RR fell away in the middle overs. Jason Holder, enjoying his best bowling season in the IPL, took out Parag and Dasun Shanaka in his first two overs, again using his height and the middle of the pitch to good effect. Still trying to protect Ferreira’s point of entry, RR promoted Archer and also sent Jadeja back in. From 82 for 2 in eight overs, when Jadeja first retired, RR went to 118 for 5 in 12.4 overs when Jadeja came back. In this period of 28 balls, Sooryavanshi faced only nine balls and enjoyed a reprieve from Sai Sudharsan, who misjudged a catch and ran in late from deep square leg.

Even though Jadeja struggled for fluency in his second coming, he and Sooryavanshi became the first pair to register two half-century stands in the same T20 innings. Sooryavanshi set some less quirky records in the process: more than 500 runs in the powerplay of a single tournament, quickest to 1000 IPL runs and most boundaries in a single tournament, to name just three. Hitting hard lengths over long-off and extra cover was the highlight of his innings. He also backed away to hit an upper-cut over point.

Sooryavanshi wanted to hit away from deep third on 97 in the last game but found the man. This time he tried to clear the man but Rabada got the bouncer high enough to draw the edge again, moving to 28 wickets and reclaiming the Purple Cap.

However, Rashid’s nightmare continued into his second over, the last of the innings, when Ferreira hit him for four sixes down the ground and from the crease.

As with the bat, RR relied too heavily on one player with the ball in Archer, who had given them seven first-over wickets this season. On this occasion, though, he gave width to Sai Sudharsan twice and slipped down the pads of Gill twice. There were also signs of the pitch having improved for batting. The spongy bounce disappeared, and the ball skidded on, and Gill and Sudharsan took risk-free hitting to the next level.

Sudharsan got a head start, enjoyed a life on 14 off 8, but Gill caught up and went past him with some delightful batting outside the powerplay as well. While Sooryavanshi had to clear fielders, it seemed in the second innings that there weren’t enough fielders on duty, and gaps everywhere for Gill to find.

This hundred from Gill was the fastest by a GT player, the century stand between Gill and Sudharsan was a world-record 11th, and the chase was GT’s highest. The most unimaginable feat of the night, though, belonged to Sudharsan, who lost his bat while hitting a ball to the off-side square boundary for the second time in two nights and was out hit-wicket again.

Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 219 for 3 in 18.4 overs (Shubman Gill 104, B Sai Sudharsan 58, Washington Sundar 16, Rahul Tewatia 17*; Jofra Archer 1-45, Nandre Burger 1-35, Brijesh Sharma 1-44) beat Rajasthan Royals 214 for 6 in 20 overs  (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 96, Ravindra Jadeja 45*, Riyan Parag 11, Donovan Ferreira 38*; Mohammed Siraj 1-42, Jason  Holder 2-27, Kagiso Rabada 2-35, Prasidh Krishna 1-42 ) by seven wickets

[Cricinfo]