Loading…
Gujarat Titans Team Bus Hit by Short Circuit Scare After IPL Final
Losing a final hurts. What happened next made the night even worse. A few hours after Gujarat Titans lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore by five wickets in the IPL 2026 final, the Shubman Gill-led team was returning to their hotel from the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad when their bus broke down due to a short circuit, forcing them to get off the bus. Everyone got out safely. But the night that started badly on the field ended in chaos on the road.
Smoke Filled the Bus Mid-Journey
Although the fire was not major, it was caused by an electrical fault in the main unit of the bus. Smoke billowed out and entered the interior area where all the players were seated. Thick clouds of smoke filled the air conditioning unit inside the coach and within minutes, security forces ordered all members of the travelling party to evacuate through the emergency exit.
The driver pulled the vehicle to an emergency stop on the side of the road. Within minutes, the entire team and support staff had exited. Not a single person was injured.
View this post on Instagram
Players Stranded on the Road for an Hour
The players and staff had to wait on the road for about an hour, after which a rescue bus was arranged to take them to the team hotel. To ensure that there was no major threat after the short circuit, immediate action was taken by the logistics team, security personnel and Ahmedabad police officers on the route from Motera to the hotel.
For a team that had just completed a difficult playoff run and lost the final, standing on the road in the middle of the night was something no one could have imagined.
A Season That Demanded Everything From GT
The bus scare had already been a tough few days for the franchise. GT had been struggling in the playoffs, including a record-chasing victory over Rajasthan Royals in Qualifier 2 and reaching their third IPL final in five seasons. The travel schedule leading up to the final made things even tougher. GT was scheduled to fly from Dharamsala to Mullanpur on May 27 to play Qualifier 2 against Rajasthan Royals on May 29.
Their scheduled departure for Ahmedabad on May 30 was delayed by bad weather at their home base in New Chandigarh, arriving late in the evening, less than twenty-four hours before the final. Sunil Gavaskar publicly questioned the schedule and said that GT deserved a better turnaround after such a good performance in the playoffs.
Gill Refused to Use Fatigue as an Excuse
GT captain Shubman Gill mentioned the post-final travel situation but kept his reaction to himself. “I don’t want to ignore the fact that RCB won, just saying that we have a lot of games in such a short time and we are tired, and that is not really the intention of our team,” Gill said.
Such a response from a captain who lost the final and survived a bus emergency on the same night says something about the character inside that dressing room.
Read More: Back-to-Back IPL Winners: Only Three Teams Made the Elite Club
Three finals in five seasons tell the real story
The bus incident and the scheduling controversy will fade away. What remains is the record. Gujarat Titans reached three IPL finals in just five seasons of its existence. No franchise in the history of the IPL has been able to build knockout consistency so quickly.
They came agonisingly close in 2026 and were defeated by a team playing the best cricket of their generation. A short circuit on the way home was the last brutal turn of the night that had already caused GT pain.
The team walked away safely. The season didn’t end the way they wanted. But three finals in five years is a record that doesn’t need a trophy to honor it.
