Sunday night went from bad to worse for Gujarat Titans. Hours after suffering defeat in the IPL 2026 final against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, the Gujarat squad endured an alarming ordeal on their way back to the team hotel in Ahmedabad.
According to a report in the PTI, the team bus carrying the Gujarat players and the support staff suffered a breakdown while on its way to the hotel after the IPL final loss to Royal Challenge Bengaluru. The report added that the team members, who are all safe and unhurt despite smoke spreading inside the bus, waited on the road for a short while before another bus was arranged to take them to the hotel.
Tough 24 hours in Ahmedabad
It has been a challenging 24 hours for Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad.
The team arrived late in the city following their Qualifier 2 win over Rajasthan Royals in Mullanpur on Friday after adverse weather conditions in north India temporarily affected flight operations in Chandigarh. Their flight was delayed by nearly three hours, leaving them with less than 24 hours to prepare for the final. The delay even forced the postponement of the pre-match captains’ photoshoot.
Gujarat also had to navigate a demanding travel schedule during the playoffs. After completing their league-stage campaign at home, they travelled to Dharamsala for Qualifier 1 against RCB. Following that defeat, they headed to Punjab for Qualifier 2 before returning to Ahmedabad for Sunday’s title clash.
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In the final, Gujarat’s top order failed to fire. Captain Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan and Jos Buttler all departed without crossing the 20-run mark, exposing the fragility of the middle order as GT were restricted to 155 for 8.
Despite the travel-related challenges, Gujarat director of cricket Vikram Solanki refused to use them as an excuse for the defeat.
“The number of games in a short period of time is challenging. Of course it is, at the end of a campaign, but I’m not going to lean on that at all,” Solanki said.
“The fact is that RCB have beaten us today, and we must be strong enough to hold our heads high and be proud of the campaign that we’ve put together, yet also be gracious enough to congratulate RCB.
“So I don’t want to take away from the fact that RCB have won by simply saying, ‘Oh, we’ve had this number of games in such a short space of time and we’re fatigued.’ That’s not really what we’re about.”