Be it Jason Holder for Gujarat Titans or Krunal Pandya for RCB, all-rounders have played a key role in the success of the franchises. Holder came into the GT side mid-season and has completely changed their balance, chipping in with wickets and adding powerful cameos in the middle order.

On the other hand, Krunal has been a regular wicket-taker with his left-arm spin, while playing a few match-saving knocks too!

Royal Challengers Bengaluru are still fretting over the availability of Rs 11.5 crore opener Phil Salt. Recovering from a lengthy injury, it will be interesting to see whether RCB do go with Salt, or stick with the in-form Venkatesh Iyer.

Amazingly, the head-to-head record between RCB and GT is 4-4. In 8 matches, RCB have won 4 times and GT have 4 times, with no game ending in a no-result. Today's match will see the winner take the H2H lead, and also make it to the final!

In IPL 2026, RCB won the first game at Bengaluru, chasing down a target of 206, while GT took revenge in the return leg at Ahmedabad, bundling RCB out for just 155.

Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill, the star openers of RCB and GT respectively, face off in Qualifier 1 tonight. The 'King' of Indian cricket up against the heir to his throne, in a decisive battle, with a spot in the IPL final at stake. How Kohli and Gill perform tonight could be extremely decisive in which team makes the final.

Gill is the second-highest run-scorer of IPL 2026, with 616 runs in 13 innings. Kohli is not far behind, with 557 runs in 14 innings, but he has a better average and strike-rate this season.

Today's match could be decided by the pace bowling units of both teams. RCB boast Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood and Rasikh Dar, while GT have Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Jason Holder and potentially Prasidh Krishna.

Bhuvneshwar, at 36, is enjoying his best IPL season in years, while Rabada and Siraj have wrecked several teams during the powerplay this year.

RCB talisman Virat Kohli is just 43 runs away from becoming the first batter to score 600+ runs in 4 consecutive IPL seasons. He has done so in 2023, 2024 and 2025, and currently sits on 557 runs in IPL 2026.

So far, 3 other players have made 600+ runs in 3 successive IPL seasons:

- Chris Gayle (2011, 2012, 2013)
- David Warner (2016, 2017, 2019)
- KL Rahul (2020, 2021, 2022)

There is a chance that the Qualifier 1 clash at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala is hampered by rain. As per AccuWeather, there is a 48% chance of rain between 5 PM and 6 PM, and a 54% chance of rain between 6 PM and 7 PM. However, thereafter, the chance of rainfall goes down to nil.

7 PM is the toss time, while the match is scheduled to begin at 7:30 PM.

For Gujarat Titans, it has been another solid campaign, defined by the performances of their star batters and bowlers. Captain Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan have been run-machines once again, while they have arguably the best bowling unit of IPL 2026, led by pacers Kagiso Rabada and Mohammed Siraj. 

If they win tonight, it will be 3 IPL finals in 5 years for the Titans!

It has been another excellent campaign for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. RCB, led by Rajat Patidar, have played like defending champions, topping the points table in IPL 2026. They have arguably the most well-balanced team in the entire tournament, with multiple players stepping up to be match-winners.

As a result, it would be no surprise if they make it back-to-back IPL finals!

Hello and welcome to the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 playoffs! We begin with the live coverage of Qualifier 1, between table-toppers and reigning champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and second-placed Gujarat Titans (GT). The winner of today's match goes straight to the final!

Stay tuned to NDTV Sports for all the live updates from the match.