'Finals are all about mental toughness': Shubman Gill ahead of IPL 2026 title clash vs RCB

Ahead of the IPL 2026 final against defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Sunday, Shubman Gill reflected on the physical and mental challenges of a packed tournament schedule. Speaking at the pre-match press conference on Saturday, the Gujarat Titans captain stressed that title-deciding matches are ultimately won through mental strength and composure under pressure.

"But yes, physically they might have an advantage, but I think finals are all about mental toughness. So the team that is mentally up for the challenge is the one that's going to win," said Gill.

The opener also discussed his aspirations across all formats of the game and said, "I'd be happy to play if, you know, I get picked for the T20 team. But I honestly want to keep working on my game. Doesn't matter what format it is. I want to keep getting better as a T20 batsman, as an ODI batsman, as a Test batsman, you know, cricket is such a game you can never really get perfect, but obviously you can strive for it, and that's what I try to do."

Gill reserved special praise for teammate Sai Sudharsan, highlighting the youngster’s consistency and ability to maintain high standards throughout a demanding IPL campaign.

"I think in a tournament like IPL, you know, when I first started playing, one of the things that one of the challenges that I faced was to keep playing the matches at the same intensity. And I think that is one of his biggest strengths, Sai. You know, you play so many matches, there could be days where mentally you don't feel up to the mark or physically you don't feel up to the mark."

Since forming an opening partnership in 2022, Gill and Sudharsan have become one of the most prolific duos in IPL history, amassing 2,944 runs together.

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After winning the Orange Cap with 759 runs last season, Sudharsan has carried his excellent form into the current campaign, while Gill has also featured prominently among the tournament’s leading run-scorers.

Gill also praised the team's star pace duo of Kagiso Rabada and Mohammed Siraj for having a brilliant run in the ongoing IPL season.

"The message is simple. When you're bowling with the new ball if there is a little bit in the wicket, as a batsman I know the hardest ball to hit is obviously that good length ball, but that good length changes according to the wicket. You know, if you're playing on black soil, if there is grass on it, if there is no grass, if you're playing on red soil. So that length...there's a lot of talk about length, length, length, but the length is not the same on all the venues. It varies, probably a meter back or forth," he said.

"I mean there's a reason why test match length works because it is the hardest ball to hit as a batsman with the new ball. But I think the way we executed our bouncers today, it was quite exceptional. We think in every over we used our bouncers very well and the accuracy of bouncers that we bowled--I've actually not seen in a T20 game--the number of bouncers we used and the success that we got was tremendous," he added.

With inputs from agencies