Sai Sudharsan creates unwanted T20 record despite GT's march into IPL 2026 final

Gujarat Titans (GT) secured their place in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 by defeating Rajasthan Royals (RR) in their Qualifier 2 clash on Friday, May 29 at the New PCA Stadium in Mullanpur. GT's opening duo of Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan stitched a strong opening partnership to seal the game.

Unwanted record for Sai Sudharsan

However, Sai Sudharsan created an unwanted record despite scoring a wonderful knock of 58 in just 32 balls, hitting eight boundaries and one six. But, he once again got out in a forgetful manner. On the fifth delivery of the 13th over of second innings, while playing a shot off Brijesh Sharma's bowling, Sai could not control his bat, as it slipped out of his hands before hitting stumps, getting hit-wicket.

In the first qualifier against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) Sudharsan had to depart after getting out in a similar fashion. With this, he became the first Indian batter to hit-wicket three times in the T20 format of the game. No batter has been dismissed hit-wicket more often than Sudharsan in the history of T20 cricket.

GT's strong batting performance against RR

While chasing 215, GT completed the game with ease as their opening duo of Sai Sudharsan and skipper Shubman Gill recorded another epic partnership to dismantle the RR bowling attack. Shubman Gill smashed a brilliant century in just 53 balls, before getting dismissed by Jofra Archer on 104 runs. Washington Sundar also smashed 58 runs off just 32 balls, before getting hit wicket on Brijesh Sharma's bowling.

Rahul Tewatia and Jos Buttler finished the game for GT, with 17 off 9 and 9 off 9 respectively. At the end, GT emerged victorious by seven wickets in a thrilling run-chase.

GT eye IPL 2026 title

After defeating RR in the Qualifier 2, GT will gear up to lock horns against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the final game of the tournament on Sunday May 21, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Earlier, RCB defeated GT by a big margin in the Qualifier 1 clash, now, it will be interesting to see if GT can take the revenge by becoming the champions.