IPL 2026: Rashid Leads GT In Gill’s Absence, Kushagra Earns Debut As RR Opt To Bat

IPL 2026: Rashid leads GT in Gill’s absence, Kushagra earns debut as RR opt to bat (Image Source: IANS)

Indian Premier League: Rashid Khan will be leading the Gujarat Titans in the absence of regular skipper Shubman Gill, who has been rested owing to a muscle spasm, as the Rajasthan Royals won the toss and elected to bat in the ninth match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

GT will be desperate to open their account this season after falling just short in their opening outing against the Punjab Kings. Despite putting up a respectable 162/6 with the bat, they were unable to defend it, as the bowlers failed to hold their nerves in the closing stages, allowing Punjab to chase down the target with five deliveries to spare.

RR, meanwhile, come into the contest brimming with confidence following a commanding victory over Chennai Super Kings in Guwahati. Delivering a complete performance, they bundled out CSK for just 127 before wrapping up the chase with ease inside 13 overs. Jofra Archer and Nandre Burger led the charge with the ball, while young Vaibhav Suryavanshi caught the eye with an explosive fifty.

Looking at past encounters, GT have generally enjoyed the upper hand in this rivalry, winning six of the eight matches played between the two teams. RR have managed two victories, including their most recent meeting in April 2025. Notably, the Titans also came out on top when the two sides first faced off in April 2022, making this an interesting contest to watch.

Winning the toss, RR skipper Riyan Parag said, “We are going to be batting first. We have to assess and adapt to different conditions. Hopefully, we will put up a good score around 210 and defend it later on. We want to be a team that can play in all conditions. I want it to be a team that is flexible. We don't want to play one brand of cricket. We don't want to be a team that only scores or bowls for 200 runs or 250 runs. I think, like I said, I want us to assess the pitch, play through all conditions that the IPL offers to us, and be good at it. So I think that's the message. Two changes. Tushar Deshpande comes in for Brijesh, and Shubham Dubey comes in for Bishnoi.”

Meanwhile, GT’s stand-in captain Rashid Khan said, “We wanted to bowl first as well. Fresh wicket and I feel like there will be some help for the bowlers initially, but we are quite happy with the toss so far. Gill has got a bit of a muscle spasm, hopefully he will be back soon. KK (Kumar Kushagra) is playing his first game and look forward to seeing him play. I think we played good cricket (in the last game). I feel that in the last game as well, it was a very close game, but there were some areas we need to improve our bowling, and also with the batting. And we spoke a lot about that in the meetings, and we just need to bring our A-game here and give our 100%. So I feel like we did really well in the last game as well, but we take the positive things from that and we keep improving our skills in our game.”

Playing XIs:

Rajasthan Royals: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Riyan Parag (c), Shimron Hetmyer, Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Tushar Deshpande, Sandeep Sharma

Impact Substitutes: Ravi Singh, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Shubham Dubey, Brijesh Sharma, Ravi Bishnoi

Rajasthan Royals: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Riyan Parag (c), Shimron Hetmyer, Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Tushar Deshpande, Sandeep Sharma

Impact Substitutes: Shahrukh Khan, Jason Holder, Manav Suthar, Anuj Rawat, Jayant Yadav

Article Source: IANS