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Former RCB great AB de Villiers has made a bold prediction for the upcoming IPL 2026 final. Defending champion and table topper Royal Challengers Bangalore will play the final against Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
De Villiers predicted that RCB captain Rajat Patidar would be named the player of the match in the final. Patidar is coming off a sensational, unbeaten 93 against GT in Qualifier 1 last Tuesday.
Patidar’s heroics take RCB to second consecutive final
After winning the tournament last year, RCB became the third team to reach the final next year. Rajat Patidar was at the center of defeating GT in Qualifier 1.
Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal gave a good start to RCB by scoring 72 runs, which was taken forward by Patidar. Patidar and Krunal Pandya started cautiously, but eventually broke the floodgates.
The pair scored 28 runs in one over from Kulwant Khejroliya and made an amazing partnership of 95 runs in just 8 overs. RCB added 114 runs in the last six overs, taking them to the highest team score in playoff history.
Rajat Patidar dispelled all doubts about his ability to play at pace in an innings filled with 9 sixes.
The GT pursuit never happened. Shubman Gill’s side lost five wickets in the powerplay and from there it was a formality, although Rahul Tewatia scored 68 runs. Jacob Duffy took three wickets, while Krunal Pandya, Rasikh Salam and Bhuvneshwar Kumar took one wicket each.
AB de Villiers made bold predictions
Speaking to Star Sports, AB de Villiers was asked to make three major predictions regarding the IPL 2026 final on Sunday.
Firstly, he predicted Patidar to win the Player of the Match award. If successful, Rajat Patidar will be only the fourth captain to win the Player of the Match award in an IPL final.
The others are Anil Kumble (RCB, 2009), Rohit Sharma (MI, 2015), and Hardik Pandya (GT, 2022). Captain or not, Kumble remains the only player to win the Player of the Match award despite losing an IPL final.
Second, De Villiers said that leg spinner Rashid Khan will score runs at an economy rate of more than 10 runs per over. Afghan has not taken any wicket in both the playoff matches of IPL 2026.
In Qualifier 1 against RCB, he conceded 29 runs in 3 overs and finished with an economy rate of less than 10. In Qualifier 2 against Rajasthan Royals, Donovan Ferreira assisted Rashid and conceded 45 runs in two overs, with an economy rate of 22.50.
Lastly, De Villiers predicted that his good friend and former RCB captain Virat Kohli would score a half-century. Kohli is currently the leading run-scorer for RCB in IPL 2026 with 600 runs in 15 matches. He has also scored 4 half-centuries and one century.
Rajat Patidar in IPL 2026
In terms of number of runs, Rajat Patidar has had his best IPL season so far. This year he has scored 486 runs in 14 matches at an average of 44 and strike rate of 187.
He has been one of the best middle-order batsmen of the tournament, scoring 5 fifties.
Also Read: Rain threat on IPL 2026 final: IMD issues weather alert for Ahmedabad ahead of RCB vs GT clash