Gujarat Titans skipper Shubman Gill said fall of early wickets and lack of momentum in the middle overs hurt their chances of posting something around 180 to 190, as Royal Challengers Bengaluru gunned down 156 with two overs to spare in the IPL 2026 final on Sunday.
Once GT lost Gill, Sai Sudharsan and Jos Buttler cheaply, the middle-order never rose to the occasion as the hosts were restricted to 155 for 6. Then Virat Kohli scored an unbeaten 75 to guide RCB to their second straight IPL title.
“If we’d have gotten 180-190, it’d have been a good match. Maybe a little two-paced but not too much. There’s some early movement for pacers. We lost early wickets and never got momentum,” Gill said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
GT would have liked to pick early wickets in the RCB innings but Kohli and Venkatesh Iyer scored 62 in the powerplay.
“We felt we’ll be in the game if we took 1-2 in the powerplay. We gave 15-20 too many, they got away in the powerplay.”
Gill lauded the bowlers who ensured that they won nine games this season in the group league stage despite losing the first two.
“We were one of the best bowling sides. We came back strong after losing the first two games. Kept challenging and improving ourselves. Very happy overall. Yes, we couldn’t get over the line but even if we had won the trophy, there would be things to improve.”
Meanwhile, Gujarat Titans’ director of cricket Vikram Solanki admitted that they “miscalculated” an appropriate score on the Narendra Modi Stadium pitch, leading to a five-wicket defeat in the IPL 2026 final.
“I think we probably just made a slight miscalculation actually of what score was appropriate on that pitch. I don’t think it was a 200-plus pitch,” said Solanki in the post-match press conference.
