2026 Indian Premier League final

Bengaluru won the toss and elected to field first; Gujarat scored 155/8 in their innings, which Bengaluru chased down in 18 overs scoring 161/5, to win their second IPL title and become the third team to win two consecutive IPL finals. They also became the first team to win the IPL and the Women's Premier League in the same year. A closing ceremony was held during the match's innings break. Bengaluru's captain Rajat Patidar dedicated the victory to the victims of the 2025 Bengaluru crowd crush.

Background

The 2026 Indian Premier League was the 19th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league, organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The season commenced on 28 March and consisted of 10 teams competing in 74 matches. After the conclusion of the group stage, four teams advanced to the playoffs, which began on 26 May and concluded with the final played on 31 May at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. This was the fourth IPL final held at that venue, after the 2022, 2023 and 2025 events.

The defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru qualified for their fifth IPL final. They were the fourth team to qualify for two consecutive IPL finals and had previously been runners-up in 2009, 2011 and 2016. Their opponents were the Gujarat Titans, who qualified for their third IPL final: they were champions in 2022 and runners-up in 2023. Both teams were competing for their second titles and had won their maiden titles at this same venue.

3 more chapters are free with a Lably account.

Road to the final

Royal Challengers Bengaluru

Royal Challengers Bengaluru began their season with two wins against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings. They lost to Rajasthan Royals, won against Mumbai Indians and Lucknow Super Giants, lost to Delhi Capitals, and won against Gujarat and Delhi. Then they lost to Gujarat and Lucknow, won against Mumbai, Kolkata Knight Riders and Punjab Kings and ended the group stage with a loss to Hyderabad. With nine wins from 14 matches, they finished the league stage in first place and advanced to Qualifier 1 in the playoffs. They defeated Gujarat in Qualifier 1, to advance to the final.

Gujarat Titans

Gujarat Titans began their season with two losses against Punjab and Rajasthan. They won their next three matches against Delhi, Lucknow and Kolkata; lost to Mumbai and Bengaluru; won against Chennai, Bengaluru, Punjab, Rajasthan and Hyderabad; lost to Kolkata and won against Chennai. They also had nine wins from 14 matches, finishing the league stage in second place, behind Bengaluru on the tiebreaker (net run rate). They advanced to Qualifier 1 in the playoffs, which they lost to Bengaluru. However, Gujarat then defeated Rajasthan in Qualifier 2, to reach the final.

Match

Match officials

The on-field umpires for the final were K. N. Ananthapadmanabhan and Nitin Menon, while the third umpire was Jayaraman Madanagopal. Virender Sharma was the reserve umpire and Javagal Srinath was the match referee. This was the first time in an IPL final that all five officials were Indian.

Team and toss

Bengaluru's captain Rajat Patidar won the toss and elected to field; he also stated that their team would be unchanged from their previous game while Gujarat's captain Shubman Gill stated that Arshad Khan would replace Sai Kishore in their team.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Jacob Duffy (SUB), Venkatesh Iyer (IMP), Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Krunal Pandya, Tim David, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Salam
Gujarat Titans: Prasidh Krishna (IMP), Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Nishant Sindhu, Jos Buttler (wk), Washington Sundar, Arshad Khan, Rahul Tewatia (SUB), Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj

(IMP) indicates an impact player and (SUB) indicates the player who was substituted.

Match scorecard

Royal Challengers Bengaluru won the toss and elected to field.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru won their second IPL title after 2025. They also became the third team to win two consecutive IPL finals; and the first team to win the IPL and the Women's Premier League in the same year.

Gujarat Titans innings

Put in to bat first, the Gujarat openers Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan were dismissed in the third and fourth overs, bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood respectively. Washington Sundar scored 50 runs from 37 balls while Nishant Sindhu scored 20 runs from 18 balls. All the other Gujarat batters were dismissed for fewer than 20 runs; they ended their innings with a score of 155 runs for the loss of eight wickets. Rasikh Salam picked up three wickets for Bengaluru.

Fall of wickets: 1–22 (Gill, 2.2 ov), 2–26 (Sudharsan, 3.4 ov), 3–55 (Sindhu, 7.6 ov), 4–73 (Buttler, 12.1 ov), 5–99 (Arshad Khan, 14.1 ov), 6–115 (Tewatia, 16.1 ov), 7–142 (Holder, 18.3 ov), 8–151 (Rashid Khan, 19.2 ov)

Closing ceremony

A closing ceremony for the IPL season was held during the innings break of the final. It included a live musical performance from Kailash Kher, a laser light show, and a fireworks display.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru innings

Chasing the target of 156, Bengaluru openers Venkatesh Iyer and Virat Kohli shared an opening partnership of 62 runs before Iyer was dismissed for 32. Devdutt Padikkal and Krunal Pandya were dismissed for one run each, while Rajat Patidar made 15. The score was 91 for 4 after 8.5 overs, with Kohli still not out. The following batters Tim David and Jitesh Sharma contributed 24 and 11 runs respectively, while Kohli increased the run rate; he would finish with a strike rate of 178. Bengaluru reached a score of 161 runs for the loss of five wickets after 18 overs, passing the target and securing the title. Bowler Rashid Khan took two wickets for Gujarat, while Kohli was the highest run-scorer with 75 runs not out from 42 balls and received the player of the match award.

Fall of wickets: 1–62 (Iyer, 4.3 ov), 2–63 (Padikkal, 5.1 ov), 3–89 (Patidar, 8.2 ov), 4–91 (Krunal, 8.5 ov), 5–132 (David, 13.6 ov)

Aftermath

Bengaluru became the third team to win two consecutive IPL finals after Chennai and Mumbai. They also became the first team to win the IPL and the Women's Premier League in the same year, having won the women's tournament earlier in the year. Bengaluru received ₹20 crore (US$2.1 million) and Gujarat received ₹12.5 crore (US$1.3 million) in prize money. Bengaluru captain Patidar dedicated the victory to the victims of the crowd crush that occurred during last year's victory celebrations.