A cool evening in Dharamsala, and another captain has looked at the numbers and chosen to bowl. “We’ll back ourselves under lights,” Shubman Gill said after calling correctly, the Gujarat Titans skipper well aware that both night matches here this season have gone to the chasing side.
Rajat Patidar, leading Royal Challengers Bengaluru, sounded relaxed enough. “Looks a decent surface, so runs on the board first won’t hurt,” he offered. Recent history, though, sits with Gill: the two previous GT-RCB meetings this year were also won by the side batting second.
Teams and changes
RCB remain without Phil Salt. The opener’s hand has healed, he’s back from England, but the medical staff “didn’t want to rush it”, according to a team spokesperson. Venkatesh Iyer moves up to partner Virat Kohli.
The more intriguing call is Jacob Duffy for Romario Shepherd. Duffy strengthens the new-ball options; Shepherd stays on the bench, freeing RCB to bring him in as an Impact Player if the innings later cries out for muscle. They could, equally, keep Shepherd out and turn instead to leg-spinner Suyash Sharma should conditions slow.
Gujarat have sprung their own switch: left-arm quick Kulwant Khejroliya returns for his first outing since 9 April. Arshad Khan is the man to sit; the franchise gave no word on injury. Prasidh Krishna’s inclusion underlines how little help spinners tend to get here – Rahul Tewatia is likely to appear only if the chase demands middle-order power.
Paul Allott, on commentary duty, felt the extra pace was sensible. “There’s carry in Dharamsala – if it seams you want bowlers who hit the deck,” he noted. Former India seamer Irfan Pathan agreed but warned, “The new ball zips, yet set batters can fly once the outfield quickens.”
The XIs
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Virat Kohli, Venkatesh Iyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Jacob Duffy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Salam.
Impact options: Romario Shepherd, Suyash Sharma, Kanishk Chohan, Abhinandan Singh, Jordan Cox.
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill (c), B Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler (wk), Washington Sundar, Jason Holder, Nishant Sindhu, Rashid Khan, Kulwant Khejroliya, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, M Prasidh Krishna.
Impact options: Rahul Tewatia, Glenn Phillips, Anuj Rawat, Kumar Kushagra, Sai Kishore.
With pace on view and history favouring the chasers, RCB may need a total north of par to tilt this Qualifier in their favour. Yet as Kohli quietly reminded viewers while taking guard for practice: “Runs in the bank still count.”
