Virat Kohli in action against SRH in the opening match of IPL 2026.
| Photo Credit: K.Murali Kumar
High-octane cricket returned to the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium with a bang as Royal Challengers Bengaluru outclassed Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets in the IPL 2026 season opener here on Saturday.
Follow the IPL 2026 RCB vs SRH highlights
It was a festive occasion at the iconic venue, which hosted its first top-level outing since the deadly stampede last year.
The packed house revelled on an entertaining night, one where RCB poster boy Virat Kohli (69 n.o., 38b, 5×4, 5×6), hometown hero Devdutt Padikkal (61, 26b, 7×4, 4×6) and captain Rajat Patidar (31, 12b, 2×4, 3×6) were in their element.
The trio’s fireworks took RCB to the 202-run target with 4.2 overs to spare. Padikkal gave the home team a flying start, ensuring that Phil Salt’s early dismissal made no dent.
Kohli was all class when a straight bat sent an over-pitched delivery from pacer Eshan Malinga to the sight screen.
Later, the 37-year-old produced a stunning shot when he whipped a length ball from Harshal Patel deep into the square-leg stands.
Sparkling cameo
Patidar kept the tempo up with a brief, explosive knock. There was a stutter when Patidar and Jitesh Sharma fell off successive balls, but there was no stopping RCB.
The SRH bowlers were much too full on a surface with spongy bounce.
After being put in, Ishan Kishan (80, 38b, 8×4, 5×6) and Aniket Verma (43, 18b, 3×4, 4×6) landed the big blows to push SRH beyond 200.
Kishan and Aniket were the only visiting batters who were able to connect sweetly. RCB fast bowler Jacob Duffy, who made his IPL debut, read the conditions well, banging in the short balls to great effect.
The batters rushed into the shot and mistimed it, handing the Kiwi three crucial top-order wickets.
Stand-in skipper Kishan got going with a back-foot punch, and kept up the attacking instinct despite the loss of wickets.
Heinrich Klaasen (31, 22b, 2×4, 1×6) and Kishan put on a rollicking fourth-wicket alliance before Salt took a good catch at deep mid-wicket while staying just inside the boundary rope to cut short the South African batter’s stay.
Salt was back in action a couple of overs later, pulling off a one-handed stunner to dismiss Kishan.
Aniket provided the spark at the end, only to be outshone by the RCB batters.
Published – March 29, 2026 12:01 am IST
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