RCB vs GT, IPL 2026 Final: Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have named an unchanged XI for the high-octane IPL 2026 clash against the Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on May 31, Sunday. As expected, explosive England opener Phil Salt is not part of the playing XI, with the Royal Challengers sticking with Venkatesh Iyer at the top to open the innings with Virat Kohli.
RCB vs GT IPL 2026 Final LIVE Cricket Score
RCB vs GT, IPL 2026 Final: Why is Phil Salt not playing in the tournament-decider against the Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad?
Almost every RCB has been eager about whether or not Phil Salt will play another match in IPL 2026. The explosive England opener last played in the game against the Delhi Capitals at the Chinnaswamy Stadium during which he sustained a finger injury, forcing him to fly home to recuperate from that. While Salt joined the squad ahead of the fixture against the SunRisers Hyderabad, he hasn’t played any match since that. Nevertheless, the 28-year-old’s absence hasn’t affected the Royal Challengers as Venkatesh Iyer has been providing aggressive starts and scored an unbeaten 73 while batting at No.4 against the Punjab Kings in Dharamshala. Hence, Iyer’s potential to keep providing RCB with good starts could be the reason behind not making any change.
RCB playing XI: Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar(c), Jitesh Sharma(w), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Duffy, Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Salam Dar.
GT playing XI: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill(c), Jos Buttler(w), Washington Sundar, Rahul Tewatia, Nishant Sindhu, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Arshad Khan, Mohammed Siraj
RCB vs GT, IPL 2026 Final: How many finals have Royal Challengers Bengaluru and the Gujarat Titans won?
The defending champions, who have reached the final for the fifth time, have won only one decider out of four. They had lost to the Deccan Chargers in 2009, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in 2011 and the SunRisers Hyderabad in 2016. Nevertheless, the Royal Challengers went on to break the trophy jinx last year after beating the Punjab Kings by 6 runs in the final.
Meanwhile, the Gujarat Titans are featuring in their third final and won their first in 2022 after beating the Rajasthan Royals in the final. The Titans went down to the Super Kings narrowly in the final of the 2023 edition.
