‘Shubman Gill wanted to bat like he did against Jofra Archer in Qualifier 2’ – Sunil Gavaskar dissects GT captain’s dismissal in IPL 2026 final

Shubman Gill (Source: Getty Images)

Sunil Gavaskar explained why Shubman Gill couldn’t replicate his heroics from the IPL 2026 Qualifier 2 during the final against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Sunday, May 31, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

In Qualifier 2, against the Rajasthan Royals, Shubman took Jofra Archer to the cleaners, hitting two boundaries in each of the England seamer’s first two overs inside the power play. The Punjab batter was seen venturing out of his crease and playing his shots against Archer during his stellar 104-run knock off 53 balls that helped the Gujarat Titans reach the final.

Gavaskar opined that Shubman tried to play in the same fashion against RCB’s Josh Hazlewood in the final, but that backfired. The former India opener said that Hazlewood got the ball to bounce more by using his wrist. Shubman played a half-hearted shot, and RCB skipper Rajat Patidar ran to his right from mid-off to complete a decent catch. The former had to depart after scoring just 10 runs in eight balls as the Titans went on to lose the match by five wickets.

“The way Shubman batted in the last match, they had hit Jofra Archer for 19 runs in the first over, there too he was going down the pitch and hitting. I feel he wanted to play like that against Hazlewood as well, but when Hazlewood uses his wrist, the ball bounces a little more,” Sunil Gavaskar on JioHotstar.

Gavaskar said that Shubman misjudged the length and went for the pull shot, which wasn’t the correct option. However, the cricketer-turned-commentator empathised with the 26-year-old, saying that he got out to his first mistake in the match.

“Many times, the batters feel the length is short, but it’s short of good length, from where it’s not easy to play the pull shot. He played the same shot very well against Jofra Archer two days ago. It happens at times. He got out to his first mistake. Sometimes, you are lucky, catches are dropped, or the ball falls as the fielders aren’t close,” Gavaskar observed.

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