Rajat Patidar-led Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) are facing Shubman Gill’s Gujarat Titans (GT) in the IPL 2026 final at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday (May 31). RCB, who are playing their second consecutive IPL final, didn’t include Venkatesh Iyer in their playing XI. However, the left-handed batter will have a crucial role to play and he will come out to bat in RCB’s chase. Venkatesh has been included in the list of Impact Players. He now plays as a specialist batter and has only bowled one over since IPL 2023.
The RCB opener has scored 177 runs in five innings in the ongoing season. He finally made his RCB debut against Rajasthan Royals on April 10. He returned to RCB’s playing XI against GT on April 30.
Venkatesh remained unbeaten on 73 off 40 balls against Punjab Kings (PBKS). He finally got to open the innings against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). He slammed 44 off just 19 balls in the losing effort. He scored 19 off 7 balls in the first Qualifier against Gujarat Titans.
RCB opt to bowl
Royal Challengers Bengaluru won the toss and opted to bowl first in the final. They didn’t make any changes in their playing XI. “We will bowl first. It’s a pretty good wicket. The ball will come nicely on the bat, but to be honest, it will not change in the 40 overs. So we’ll try to get them early as possible,” RCB captain Rajat Patidar said at the toss.
Speaking at the toss, GT captain Shubman Gill said that they would have batted first anyway. “No, we would have batted first, honestly. It looks like a good wicket and final game, so hopefully have some runs on the board and put them under pressure,” Gill said.
Here are playing XIs of both teams
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Rajat Patidar (Captain), Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Jitesh Sharma, Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Duffy, Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Salam Dar
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill (Captain), Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler, Washington Sundar, Rahul Tewatia, Nishant Sindhu, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Arshad Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj