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Match No. 73 of the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 was the Qualifier 2 of the tournament, where the Gujarat Titans (GT) took over the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in New Chandigarh. The match ended in disappointment for Riyan Parag’s side as they were handed a defeat by 7 wickets in the match and knocking them out of the tournament.
There was controversy even before the match started, as Riyan Parag’s call was not heard for the first time by the match referee, and it had to be done again. Riyan Parag won the toss and elected to bat first. They played the same team from their win against SRH. GT made one change with R Sai Kishore coming in place of Kulwant Khejroliya.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi left heartbroken
Opting to bat first, Yashasvi Jaiswal fell early for just one run. Then followed Dhruv Jurel, who went back for 7 runs, and RR were down to 9/2. Instead of Riyan Parag, Ravindra Jadeja came into bat for the side and stitched a partnership before being retired hurt on the score of 34 runs. Riyan Parag yet again failed to convert his start.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was absolutely amazing on the night, scoring 96 runs but missing out on a well-deserved hundred. Jadeja came back and remained unbeaten on the score of 45 runs, and Donovan Ferreira’s 38 off 11 helped RR to go past 200 as they posted 214 runs off their 20 overs.
Shubman Gill shines for GT
While chasing, Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan were off to a flying start, as the two stitched a 167-run partnership before the latter was dismissed for 58 runs again by hit-wicket. Sai was left in disbelief after getting out bizarrely twice in the span of three days.
The GT skipper scored a brilliant century in 47 runs and was out on 104 runs. Rahul Tewatia finished the game in style and remained unbeaten on 17* runs. Washington Sundar scored 16 of 9 balls and was out.
It was a par score- Riyan Parag
Riyan Parag after the match said, “It was a par score; it was defendable. I felt after the heavy roller, it got better in the 2nd innings. In the first innings, the bowlers got some grip, and the slower ones did well. I thought 230 would have been a par score. A score around 240 would have been challenging, but we needed the openers early.”
“It didn’t happen, which became tough for us. (On the season) To sum it up in one sentence, there were many positives. We weren’t supposed to qualify, given that many players were young and inexperienced, but many youngsters performed well and can only improve from here. (On Vaibhav Sooryavanshi) I can’t put it into words, there’s one way where you slog and score many runs.”
Riyan Parag on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, “But he doesn’t slog, you could see his innings today – he calculates and plays his shots. I can’t say how, but hopefully he will go on to do well in his career, do well for the Rajasthan Royals and win us a second title.”
