IPL 2026 Qualifier: The first qualifier match of IPL 2026 is to be played between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Gujarat Titans (GT) on Tuesday (May 26). This match will be hosted by the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Cricket Stadium in Dharamshala. RCB’s record while playing the first qualifier has been excellent.
Royal Challengers Bangalore has won the first qualifier ticket thrice before. In the year 2011, RCB had reached the qualifiers for the first time, but they had to face defeat against Chennai Super Kings. After this, in 2016, the team got the ticket for the first qualifier by being in the top 2. RCB performed brilliantly and defeated Gujarat Lions in the first qualifier.
For the third time, RCB played the first qualifier in the last season i.e. IPL 2025 and under the leadership of Rajat Patidar, the team defeated Punjab Kings and got the ticket for the final. RCB has reached the qualifiers 3 times before, out of which the team has tasted victory twice and has faced defeat once.
RCB has made it to the finals four times in the IPL so far, but the team has been able to win the title only once. Last season, Royal Challengers Bangalore won the IPL trophy for the first time, ending a drought of 18 years. Even in IPL 2026, the team has played excellent cricket so far. Both RCB’s batting and bowling have looked quite balanced this season.
The performance of Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal in the top order has been strong. Especially Virat has appeared in amazing form and he has scored 557 runs this season. Venkatesh Iyer has also left a mark with the bat since coming into the playing eleven. Captain Rajat Patidar has proved to be an important batsman of the team in difficult situations. At the same time, the role of finisher has been played very well by Tim David. RCB’s bowling attack under the leadership of Bhuvneshwar Kumar has also appeared to be in rhythm. Bhuvneshwar has taken 24 wickets in IPL 2026. Josh Hazlewood and Rasikh Salam have supported him well. At the same time, the pair of Suyyash and Krunal Pandya has proved effective in the spin department.
