At 107/2 in the 11th over, the Gujarat Titans looked the favourites to win their first match of IPL 2026 against the Rajasthan Royals at the Narendra Modi Stadium. Yet, a combination of a lack of runs from the middle-order and excellent death-over bowling from the visitors meant that they lost by six runs, suffering their second defeat of the tournament. GT batting coach Matthew Hayden felt the hosts had the game in their grasp, but losing a flurry of quick wickets proved to be the turning point. “I think we lost four for ten in that period. The game was absolutely in the bag. Washi Sundar had a pretty big decision to make at that point around if you’re going to attack someone like Bishnoi, who was on a roll, especially after the dismissal. That was maybe a choice that he can look at and will look at as well in terms of just trying to be a little bit more cohesive in our run chases, because it has to be said there wasn’t a lot that went wrong in that first 12 overs. There was plenty of great stuff.” “The run out was something that, again, was a decision which Shahrukh and Rashid had to make at the time. I haven’t broken down that play because as a coach you tend to kind of look at the ball, but I’ll be interested also to see the approach when we get back to vision of how that run was executed. It certainly looked from the sideline that Jaddu bumped the ball quite a long way away from him and to regather, as we know, he’s so quick and he’s so good at getting and releasing the ball.” “But there’s two wickets straight away that would have been the difference. Again, we’re talking about six runs. So those little things in T20 cricket, when you’re chasing down a big total, which we were, they become vital in the decision‑making process of a batting unit,” Hayden said in the post-match presentation. The former Australian opening batter admitted that key bowlers like Mohammed Siraj did not have a great day with the ball, as did the likes of Kagiso Rabada and Rashid Khan. “I felt like a lot of our bowlers were just a little bit off their rhythm and their line in particular. KG Rabada’s figures were a bit more expensive than perhaps what he bowled today. Siraj had an off day, simple as that. Rashid actually could have had a much better day,” he said.Story continues below this ad Despite the difficult start to the campaign, however, Hayden sounded optimistic that the side would bounce back and return to winning ways soon. He also said that GT would not look to make any major changes to their team, so early into the competition. “I feel that both the matches so far, while they haven’t been in the winning column, there certainly have been plenty of performances that give us as a management team and coaching staff plenty of optimism.” “You don’t win the tournament in the early parts of the IPL. Yes, we need to start to perform; we know that. But for us it is about consolidating what we have, and I don’t see any obvious changes,” Hayden said.
Siraj’s ‘off day’, Washington Sundar’s failed attack on Ravi Bishnoi and a run out: Matthew Hayden on how GT lost IPL 2026 thriller to RR
