If you’re in Bengaluru, don’t even try. You’re not going to get a reservation for dinner anywhere in town. Same thing if you’re in Ahmedabad. The tickets? They’re all gone. So, as you come to terms with watching the final from home like the rest of us, why don’t you settle in with today’s edition of Cricbuzz Pulse, your two-minute tour of the IPL-verse.
Looking forward to tonight in five lines
A rematch of Qualifier-1 but on GT’s home turf
Final set to be played on mixed-soil pitch
GT’s top three seek to make amends
While RCB seek rare title defence
One of the teams will end the night as two-time IPL champions
Oh, that might happen
A Virat Kohli special in the final? He averages 71.85 in nine matches against GT and averages 60.88 in 14 T20s at the Narendra Modi Stadium. Before you get all excited though, you should know he’s been dismissed five times by Kagiso Rabada and four times by Jason Holder (including twice this season, dragging a short ball onto his stumps on both occasions) in T20s.
Pulse Awards
The bland-not-bad award goes to Rajat Patidar for likely not having both salt in his toothpaste and Salt in his playing XII tonight.
The back-to-a-familiar-home award goes to the Purple Cap which will rest in either of Kagiso Rabada or Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s homes. It’s been to both before.
The hogging-the-limelight award goes to Ahmedabad for staging four of the last five IPL finals.
The hope-you-slept-well awardgoes to everyone from broadcasters to groundsmen (and us here at Cricbuzz) who will be found working long into the night.
Talking point
The two title-contending captains have spent IPL 2026 redefining perceptions of who they are and how they score their runs. Rajat Patidar, long touted as a ‘spin basher’, countered that notion quite emphatically when he smashed GT’s pacers around during his breathtaking 33-ball 93* in Qualifier 1. In the other camp, Gill’s sublime century in Qualifier 2 proved that timing and placement could still thrive in a format increasingly obsessed with power.
The Chatter
When pressed about their India ambitions, both captains had very different things to say. “I’d be happy to play if I get picked for the T20 team,” said Shubman Gill while Rajat Patidar said that he is “Not looking forward for any selection regarding India.”
Shubman Gill admitted that RCB might have the advantage “physically” but said that a final is “all about the mental side of the game”.
Stat Snack
Eight of the nine games between the two sides have been won by the chasing side, Qualifier 1 in Dharamsala being the lone exception.
Gossip Column
Word is that one of the passengers on tomorrow morning’s flight from Ahmedabad to Patna has booked the maximum allowed excess luggage. When asked, the passenger, who cannot be named since they are a minor, said that they’re expecting to carry home lots of extra hardware.
Reckless prediction for tonight
The trophy will be gracefully handed over to the winning team and will not instead be locked up in somebody’s office.