Beneath the buzzing halogen glare, Shubman Gill (84, 44b, 9×4, 3×6) and Sai Sudharsan (55, 36b, 6×4, 2×6) batted with dementor-like cold efficiency; the Rabada-Siraj combine turned the PowerPlay into a high-velocity ambush, and Rashid Khan’s stump-bound middle-over alchemy spelt doom as Gujarat Titans beat Rajasthan Royals by 77 runs in their IPL 2026 clash at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium here on Saturday.

Chasing 230, RR kept losing wickets and struggled to stay in the hunt.

Mohammed Siraj’s 147 kph short ball climbed off the surface, hurrying Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (36) into a top-edged dismissal. Kagiso Rabada bullied Yashasvi Jaiswal (three) with a 152 kph bouncer, forcing a catch off a jammed-up pull.

Rashid returned to his hyper-kinetic hornet mode, offering neither loop nor parabolic flight. He made the ball fizz off the deck, seeking the stumps with a street-smart, predatory hunger. He castled Dhruv Jurel (24), Donovan Ferreira (4), and Shubham Dubey (15) and trapped Ravindra Jadeja (38) plumb in front.

Earlier, Gill was, as he often is, an upright study in perpendicular grace. Not for him the brutal hack or the bare-knuckle blow. His innings was midnight-child magic, a sorcery of timing. It was signature Gill: the late-meeting clarity, the glass-cut contact, the velvet-gloved punch, and the thread-through precision.

When Tushar Deshpande banged it in, Gill simply marched down and knifed him past backward point for a four. Jofra Archer went short outside off, and he rose on his toes to thread the ball between point and cover for a four. Two deliveries later, front foot planted and maker’s name flashing, he lifted Archer gloriously over mid-off for a six.

Archer was then driven straight back over his head, Brijesh Sharma creamed past mid-off, and even Jadeja was charged at and carved over extra cover for fours. The reverse over short third for a four against Yash Raj and an extra-cover six off Brijesh only completed the exhibition.

Sai Sudharsan was, on the other hand, an upright study in calm proportion. He was all quiet craft, a calibration of touch and tempo.

It was Sai Sudharsan distilled: the early-reading clarity, the under-the-eyes contact, the risk-shaving control, and the unhurried accumulation.