Shubman Gill was expected to play a key role in the Gujarat Titans’ (GT) clash in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 final against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, May 31. He came into the fixture on the back of a splendid century in Qualifier 2 against the Rajasthan Royals. However, he couldn’t replicate his heroics in the summit clash.
After Rajat Patidar won the toss and elected to field first, Shubman was dismissed in the third over by Josh Hazlewood after scoring just 10 runs off eight balls. The 26-year-old played a half-hearted shot that ballooned straight over the bowler’s head, and Patidar took a good catch running to his right.
Harbhajan Singh opined that RCB had won half the game when they sent Shubman packing early in the match. The former India spinner believes that Shubman would have put the opposition bowlers under a lot of pressure had he played for a little longer.
“It was a massive wicket. The best thing that happened for RCB in this game was this because him getting out meant half the game was in their bag. He was the main batter who was consistently scoring runs, and he could have hit any bowler. He had won his team the game single-handedly with the previous inning he played,” he responded when asked about the importance of Shubman’s wicket on JioHotstar.
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Harbhajan said that Shubman seemed a bit too hasty while playing the big shot, adding that the subsequent dismissal of Sai Sudharsan in the following over added insult to injury for the Titans.
“He would think that he could have probably delayed that shot. While batting first, at times, it’s on your mind how many runs are needed, and that the team against them is RCB, who have a lot of batting. I feel he was slightly hasty. It was a massive moment for RCB, but this was the worst moment for GT today, and then Sai Sudharsan’s wicket falling in the first six overs,” Harbhajan observed.
