We call him the prince, but this was a king-size knock

Former India player Aakash Chopra has lauded Shubman Gill for playing a match-winning knock in the IPL 2026 Qualifier 2. He termed it a king-size knock, considering the way the Gujarat Titans (GT) skipper dominated the Rajasthan Royals (RR) bowlers.

RR set GT a 215-run target in the penultimate game of IPL 2026 in New Chandigarh on Friday, May 29. Gill smashed 104 runs off 53 deliveries in the chase to help his side achieve the target with seven wickets and eight balls to spare and book their berth in the final.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, ‘Aakash Chopra,’ the former India batter praised Gill for playing a captain’s knock in a record playoff chase.

“A total bigger than this had never been chased in the playoffs, and they (GT) had never chased such a big total. He has become the first captain to score a century in the playoffs. We have seen Shubman scoring a lot of runs, but I don’t remember a century better than this. We call him the prince, but this was a king-size knock. This was domination of a different kind,” he said.

Chopra opined that Gill’s effort was his best IPL knock, highlighting that he had virtually sealed the game in GT’s favor before his dismissal.

“From whichever perspective you were seeing it, you felt Rajasthan were slightly ahead in this match. However, Shubman Gill has done a serious upgrade. He has changed something in his playing style. He is unstoppable. Not even one shot went to a fielder. In my opinion, this was Shubman Gill’s best IPL knock. Although he should have stayed until the end, he got out after finishing the match,” he observed.

Shubman Gill struck 15 fours and three sixes during his 104-run knock in the IPL 2026 Qualifier 2. He added 167 runs for the opening wicket with Sai Sudharsan (58 off 32) in just 12.5 overs to virtually bat RR out of the game.

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“This was his ninth 50-plus score, which includes a hundred” – Aakash Chopra lauds Sai Sudharsan’s knock in GT’s IPL 2026 Qualifier 2 win vs RR

In the same video, Aakash Chopra noted that Sai Sudharsan deserves praise for continuing his consistent run in IPL 2026, highlighting that Shubman Gill couldn’t have won the game alone.

“Sai Sudharsan, because one guy alone couldn’t have done this. They have become the first opening pair in IPL history in which both openers have scored more than 700 runs in a season. How do you do this every season? Sai Sudharsan, once again. This was his ninth 50-plus score, which includes a hundred,” he said.

The cricketer-turned-commentator appreciated Gill and Sudharsan for playing very few dot balls.

“His batting was once again technically extremely compact. He keeps hitting fours after fours, and doesn’t play dot balls at all. In fact, there were only 15 dot balls in the first 15 overs. So both together went at an average of one dot ball per over,” Chopra observed.

However, Aakash Chopra urged Sai Sudharsan to do something about his bat grip before the IPL 2026 final. The analyst highlighted that he has never seen a batter getting dismissed hit wicket in back-to-back games.