Those two lives given by Rajat Patidar changed the fate of Gujarat, what did Gill say about the 92-run defeat against RCB? Captain Shubman Gill furious after one-sided defeat by RCB; The blame was not on the bowlers but on this huge negligence.

IPL 2026 has got its first finalist. In the Qualifier-1 match played on the beautiful ground of Dharamshala, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) defeated Gujarat Titans by a huge margin of 92 runs and got a direct ticket to the final. RCB’s dominance in this entire match was so much that Gujarat team was not seen standing anywhere in the match. Batting first, RCB had set a huge and mountain-like target of 255 runs for Gujarat, under the pressure of which the entire Gujarat team fell apart like a pack of cards. After this crushing defeat, Gujarat Titans captain Shubman Gill looked very disappointed and angry and he has revealed the biggest reason for the defeat.

Captain Rajat Patidar’s two life chances cost him dearly.

At the beginning of the match, Gujarat Titans won the toss and invited RCB to bat first. RCB’s legendary opener Virat Kohli gave a strong start to the team by playing a quick inning of 43 runs. After this, Krunal Pandya made a good contribution of 43 runs and Devdutt Padikkal made 30 runs. But the real hero of the match was RCB captain Rajat Patidar, who rained runs as soon as he came on the field. Batting at a strike rate close to 300, Patidar played an explosive inning of 93 unbeaten runs in just 33 balls, which included 9 brilliant sixes and 5 fours.

Gujarat’s poor fielding played a big role in RCB reaching this huge score. During this historic innings, Rajat Patidar got two big lives due to the mistakes of Gujarat fielders. His first catch was missed by Kagiso Rabada, while the second catch fell to the ground due to lack of coordination between Jos Buttler and Kulwant Khejroliya. Gujarat had to pay the price of these missed catches by losing the match.

After the defeat, Shubman Gill hinted at setting up a class for fielders.

Captain Shubman Gill looked very upset with such childish mistakes in a big and knockout match like the qualifiers. Expressing his displeasure after the match, Gill said, “I think till the 12th-13th over of the match, we were in a pretty good position and were in control of the game. But our fielding today was not at all at the level that is expected in a qualifier match. Not only did we drop very important catches, but our ground fielding was also very poor. This is one of those bad matches which we would like to forget as soon as possible and make a completely fresh start in the next match in Mohali.”

There will be serious discussion on fielding mistakes in the upcoming team meeting.

When Shubhman Gill was asked whether work would be done on improving these fielding shortcomings in the upcoming practice sessions, he made it clear that this issue is an important part of the team’s strategies. Gill said, “Definitely fielding is a department that we talk about in depth in every team meeting and practice session. But today was probably not our day. The players were full of enthusiasm and passion, but in big moments of pressure, we could not perform as per expectations.”

he adds, “To chase such big targets, it is very important to get a strong start in the powerplay. On a ground like Dharamsala, the outfield is very fast and the ball goes towards the boundary in the blink of an eye. If we had got a few runs in the beginning and given the nature of the wicket, our batsmen had survived, then it was not impossible to achieve any target. But due to poor start and loose fielding, we were completely out of the match.”

Despite this defeat, the journey of Gujarat Titans is not over yet. The team will now play the Qualifier-2 match at Mohali ground, where they will have one last chance to reach the final.