Why is RCB’s biggest test for Sunday is most complete GT bowling attack

Rabada has been the standout bowler of IPL 2026. After three consecutive difficult seasons – a combined 20 wickets in 21 matches – he has emerged as the bowling leader of this attack. Twenty-eight wickets in 16 matches at 9.43. Nineteen of those in the powerplay. His ability to hit the deck hard while maintaining high speeds makes him effective even on surfaces that offer little assistance – allowing GT to keep attacking not just with the new ball but through the middle and death overs too. The relentless pace, the attacking mindset that refuses to retreat into containment – Rabada arrives at the final as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker and as a bowler who has rediscovered something he had temporarily lost. He won the Purple Cap in IPL 2020 with 30 wickets. Sunday gives him the chance to win it again.

Mohammed Siraj and Kagiso Rabada in action. (FILE photo)

Siraj presents a different challenge from the other end. The 32-year-old relies on seam movement and swing, hunting wickets from the very first over rather than retreating into defensive lengths. Fourteen of his 18 wickets this season have come in the first six overs. His stock delivery appears to come in but shapes away – outside edges remain permanently interested. Where Rabada hits hard and fast, Siraj probes and moves. Together they form the most dangerous new-ball pairing in the competition.

The surprise has been Holder. Gujarat had planned him before the auction even opened. “Even before the IPL auction last year, we had planned that Jason Holder would be our main pick,” GT assistant coach Parthiv Patel said ahead of Qualifier 2. “We know that in the last 1.5 years, Holder has been in good form in T20 leagues across the world. If you have a player who can bowl in the powerplay as well as in the middle overs, and he can bat as well – after that decision, a lot of things changed for us.” Seventeen wickets in 10 matches at an economy of 7.54. Thirteen of those in the middle overs, where his height extracts bounce from lengths that are otherwise comfortable to hit. The calculation was made fourteen months ago. It has paid off precisely as intended.

Prasidh Krishna’s 16 wickets have come at a cost – 10.52 runs per over – but he remains a difficult bowler to line up. The lengths are awkward, the pace persistent, and he repeatedly hits the deck hard enough to deny batsmen the room they need. Caught between driving and pulling, batsmen are forced into scoring options they would not normally consider. On a surface like Ahmedabad, where the bounce is true and the pace holds, those awkward lengths become more difficult still.

Prasidh Krishna in action. (FILE photo)

Then Rashid Khan. By the time he arrives, RCB will have survived the pace quartet. It will not feel like relief. Seventeen of his 19 wickets have come in the middle overs, where he has broken partnerships and stalled scoring with a consistency that makes him the most reliable wicket-taker in the competition when games are in the balance. His pace through the air, his accuracy, his ability to create doubt where batsmen thought they had settled – each time a RCB batter thinks they have read the innings, Rashid will be waiting. Each bowler in this GT attack brings something unique. Together they form a unit with very few obvious gaps.

Batsmen win you games. Bowlers win you championships. Gujarat Titans have built their bowling attack around that conviction. For RCB, Sunday is not about getting through one bowler or surviving one phase. It is about adapting, over twenty overs, to five different threats – each one designed to take the game away from them at a different moment.

They have the batting to do it. The question is whether they have the answers for all five.

(With stat inputs from Lalith Kalidas)

Based in Mumbai, Shankar Narayan has over five years of experience and his reporting has ranged from the Ranji Trophy to ICC World Cups, and he writes extensively on women’s cricket. ... Read More

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