Rajasthan Royals’ top three has scored 1,614 runs this IPL season. Gujarat Titans’ top three has been a bit better: 1,768 runs in total. Rajasthan’s strike bowlers with the new ball have picked 37 wickets. Gujarat’s have outdone them with 43 wickets. Same, same? But, different. It will be a fascinating collision when Rajasthan Royals take on Gujarat Titans in IPL 2026 Qualifier 2, a virtual semifinal in New Chandigarh on Friday, May 29.
Why are they the same, but different?
Rajasthan’s top three have gone about bludgeoning bowlers into the stands. Led by 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who has been clearing the ropes every four balls this season, they have detonated at the top and dared opposition to keep up. Gujarat’s Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan have quietly assembled over 1,200 runs together, but they go about it differently: less chaos, more craft.
With the ball, both teams have hunted in the powerplay. Jofra Archer has been building to something frightening, sending batters back with 150 kph thunderbolts. Kagiso Rabada and Mohammed Siraj, meanwhile, have been a wrecking ball at the top — 43 wickets between them, more than any other new-ball pair in the tournament.
But only one team arrives at this virtual semifinal with the wind in their sails.
The Royals rode a beyond-believable 29-ball 97 from Sooryavanshi and a Jofra Archer new-ball burst to dismantle SunRisers Hyderabad on Wednesday — posting 243 and defending it by 47 runs like it was a training game.
Gujarat, meanwhile, were taken apart in Dharamshala on Tuesday. Royal Challengers Bengaluru handed them one of their heaviest defeats — 92 runs — as Siraj and Rabada were carted around, RCB piled up 254, and the top three of Sai, Gill and Buttler crumbled to leave Gujarat bowled out for 162.
It was the kind of night that tests what a team is actually made of.
The turnaround has been brutal for both sides. Rajasthan chose rest over nets on the eve of the game.
Gujarat trained briefly, their frontline bowlers conspicuous by their absence. A 92-run defeat in a knockout match would splinter most teams.
But Gujarat are wired differently. They won 9 of 14 league games running the same play — no elaborate backup plans, no reinvention. Just Plan A, executed with conviction. When it clicks, it is ruthless. Dharamshala was an off day, not a crisis.
That belief showed in how they trained. Coach Ashish Nehra, shoeless on the boundary, watched over proceedings with the quiet authority of a man who has seen enough cricket to know panic is a choice. Captain Gill and No. 4 Nishant Sindhu put in hard yards at the nets. Sai Sudharsan, their leading run-getter, skipped batting altogether — but stayed back after the session to shadow practice, playing out scenarios only he could see.
Their assistant coach Parthiv Patel didn’t sound like a man trying to convince himself. He sounded like a man who actually believes it.
“We finished No. 2, and we know what kind of cricket we want to play. We back ourselves. In the last four-five years, we’ve qualified consistently, won one title and finished runners-up once, so the results are there for everyone to see,” he said on the eve of the game.
“Everybody has a different way of playing. We have our own style. Even in the first half of the tournament, when we were not doing that great and were just doing okay, we still stuck to our process. We trust our ability and know what we can do. That’s something we’ll try to do tomorrow as well.
“We feel we are a very good unit, and if we go out there and execute our plans, I think we can win.”
RR vs GT: HEAD TO HEAD
Gujarat Titans have had the wood on Rajasthan Royals historically: seven wins in 10 meetings. This season, honours are even.
In Ahmedabad, Rajasthan’s top order fired beautifully to hand GT one of their two home defeats — a comprehensive 77-run win at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
Gujarat hit back in Jaipur. Gill and Sai put on a hundred-plus stand, the total read 229, and Rashid Khan took four wickets to shut the door — another 77-run win, this time in pink. One win each. Friday settles it.
MULLANPUR WEATHER AND PITCH CONDITIONS
Strong gusts swept through New Chandigarh on Thursday evening, dropping the temperature and sending groundstaff scrambling to cover the pitch. Friday is expected to be hot, but AccuWeather has flagged the possibility of a thunderstorm in isolated spots during the afternoon.
The chances of play being disrupted are slim, but if rain does arrive early, it could leave some moisture in the surface — a gift for the pacers on both sides.
Pitch No. 4, the same strip used on Wednesday, gets a second life in the evening. It should be a batting-friendly surface. But if the sun does its job and bakes it through the afternoon, the spinners, and one in particular, might have something to say later in the night.
TEAM NEWS
Rajasthan Royals have no reason to change a thing. Yash Raj Punja keeps his place ahead of Ravi Bishnoi. The young leg-spinner earned that trust with the big wicket of Heinrich Klaasen in the Eliminator, and RR aren’t the kind of side to pull the rug from under someone mid-run.
Gujarat have a harder call. The Kulwant Khejroliya experiment may have run its course after a rough night in Dharamshala. Arshad Khan is waiting in the wings if they want more firepower with the ball.
An extra spinner in Manav Suthar or Sai Kishore is also on the table. How Nehra reads this pitch before the toss could define Gujarat’s entire evening.
Rajasthan Predicted XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper), Riyan Parag (captain), Donovan Ferreira, Dasun Shanaka, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Yash Raj Punja, Brijesh Sharma.
Impact Sub: Sushant Mishra.
Gujarat Predicted XI: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (captain), Jos Buttler (wicketkeeper), Nishant Sindhu, Washington Sundar, Jason Holder, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Arshad Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj.
Impact Sub: Prasidh Krishna.
IPL Qualifier 2: TALKING POINTS
Sooryavanshi vs Siraj and Rabada
The 15-year-old has been the tournament’s most electric presence, but Gujarat’s new-ball pair will have a plan for him on Friday, and they’ll back it. Siraj dismissed Sooryavanshi when the two sides met in Jaipur, drawing him into a drive and finding the edge. He will fancy doing it again. Rabada, meanwhile, has made a habit of targeting the ribs this season, and there is no more compelling contest in this game than watching a 15-year-old decide, in real time, whether to flinch or swing.
If Sooryavanshi gets going, Rajasthan are halfway home. If he doesn’t, Gujarat have already won the first battle.
Gill and Sai vs Archer
The two have been GT’s backbone all season — quiet, relentless, north of 1,200 runs between them. But both fell cheaply in Dharamshala, and the image of their top order folding against a fired-up pace attack is still fresh. Now comes Archer, who is fresh from dismantling SunRises’ top-order. 150 kph, late shape, and the air of a man who has been saving himself for exactly this stage. How quickly Gill and Sai find their feet, and whether they carry Dharamshala with them or leave it in the dressing room, could settle this game before the tenth over.
Can Rashid strike?
Rashid Khan has been doing what he always does, having found his mojo after a tough last season. He has been appearing in the scorecard at the right time, with the right wicket, almost without announcement. He has been GT’s most reliable wicket-taker in the back half of the season, and his four-for against this Rajasthan side in Jaipur is not something their middle order will have forgotten.
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