Rajasthan Royals (RR) won the toss and chose to bat first against Gujarat Titans (GT) in the all-important Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 Qualifier 2 clash at the New Punjab Cricket Association Stadium at New Chandigarh's Mullanpur stadium on May 29. GT made one change to their playing XI as Sai Kishore walked into their fold for the key clash.
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RR captain Riyan Parag, after winning the toss, said:
"Riyan Parag - We are going to be batting first. (What do you think of the surface? Pretty much the same wicket (to the last game). I just feel at the back end I feel it slows down a little bit. And I've got more bowlers that use the slower ball. So I feel just trying to extract that. (Good momentum going into this all-important game now, it's a semi-final now!). Yeah, I mean, we've had those type of games in the last three games now. So probably for a better cause. I feel everyone's up for it, everyone wants to win. And the messaging is clear, we play a good 40 overs of cricket. Whoever plays better cricket, they win. (Fitness-wise everything good?) Everyone is hanging by a thread. I am definitely hanging by a thread (smiles). But yeah, I think everything has been done for the team. Support staff has been incredible about injuries, recoveries and all of those things. But now it's game time. It doesn't matter who has injuries or not. We're going to give it our all. (Any changes?) Same team."
Meanwhile, GT skipper Shubman Gill, after losing the toss, said:
"We would have batted first as well. Forty overs of cricket already on this wicket and it won't behave differently. We have everything to play for, it's a now or never situation. One change: Sai Kishore is back."
Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI):
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel(w), Riyan Parag(c), Donovan Ferreira, Dasun Shanaka, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Brijesh Sharma, Yash Raj Punja
RR's Impact substitutes: Shubham Dubey, Sushant Mishra, Aman Perala, Ravi Bishnoi, Tushar Deshpande
Gujarat Titans (Playing XI):
Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill(c), Jos Buttler(w), Nishant Sindhu, Washington Sundar, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Kagiso Rabada, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj
GT's Impact substitutes: Rahul Tewatia, Glenn Phillips, Anuj Rawat, Kumar Kushagra, Arshad Khan