RCB beat Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2026 opener

Devdutt Padikkal’s 26-ball 61 and Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 69 powered Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a six-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2026 opener. RCB chased 202 in 15.4 overs with a brilliant second-wicket stand

Bengaluru: Devdutt Padikkal’s 26-ball 61, filled with class, and Virat Kohli’s masterly unbeaten half-century powered Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a dominant six-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2026 season-opening match here on Saturday.

Padikkal and Kohli (69 not out, 38b) stitched 101 runs off just 45 balls for the second-wicket stand, lending strength to RCB’s successful chase of 202 in only 15.4 overs. The hosts finished at 203/4 to start their title defence in spectacular style.

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After Phil Salt was dismissed early, Kohli and Padikkal treated the Chinnaswamy crowd to a brilliant batting display.

Their approach to batting was as different as chalk and cheese. Padikkal was all wrists, feet and thunderous cuts, while Kohli played his favourite drives, shots on the ‘V’ and the swat flick.

Padikkal showed the left-hander’s class even while hitting 6, 4, 6 off pacer David Payne and later striking spinner Harsh Dubey for a 4 and 6 off successive deliveries.

The Karnataka batter reached his fifty off just 21 balls with a four off Harshal Patel.

Kohli used his swat, a shot with minimum foot movement and a short arm-throw, against pacers Jaydev Unadkat and Eshan Malinga as runs flowed quickly. The team’s 50 came in the fourth over, the Power Play produced 76, and 100 came in just 8.1 overs.

The free-flowing stand was broken when Padikkal was caught by Heinrich Klaasen, who had earlier dropped Kohli on 28 off Harshal at long-on.

Kohli soon reached his half-century off 33 balls with a single off left-arm seamer Payne.

Skipper Rajat Patidar contributed to the smooth chase, scoring 31 off 12 balls.

The consecutive dismissals of Patidar and Jitesh Sharma were minor interruptions in an otherwise easy chase, led by Kohli’s sequence of 6, 4, 4, 4 off Harshal.

Earlier, stand-in captain Ishan Kishan smashed a blazing fifty as Sunrisers Hyderabad resisted Jacob Duffy’s excellent spell but managed 201 for nine.

Kishan (80, 38b, 8×4, 5×6) and his 97-run stand with Heinrich Klaasen (31) for the fourth wicket formed the core of the SRH innings.

The match had a different start after Patidar asked Hyderabad to bat first on a pitch that had not hosted top-level cricket for nearly 10 months.

The pitch was an unknown factor, and chasing appeared a better option. Duffy’s spell (4-0-22-3) supported that decision.

The Kiwi pacer used his height well to generate bounce off the track, and Abhishek Sharma (7) looked uncomfortable despite hitting Duffy for a six over backward point.

The left-hander, often troubled by short balls, soon fell as his pull shot off Duffy ended in the gloves of Jitesh Sharma.

Earlier, RCB had lost a DRS review for a caught-behind appeal against Abhishek off Duffy in the first over.

Travis Head and Nitish Kumar Reddy also failed to control their pull shots off Duffy as SRH slipped to 29 for three in 4.2 overs.

However, Kishan was not troubled by the situation and played with confidence.

The left-hander brought up his fifty in 27 balls with a four off leg-spinner Suyash Sharma, and his innings included some fine shots.

Abhinandan Singh faced his attack as Kishan hit him for 6, 4, 6, and later Krunal Pandya was struck for two sixes in an over.

A big hit over third man off Abhinandan took Kishan to 80, and a century looked possible.

But the pacer had the last laugh as Kishan fell to a stunning one-handed diving catch by Phil Salt near deep backward point. This could be among the best catches of the season.

Kishan’s dismissal slowed SRH in the final overs, despite Aniket Verma (43, 19 balls), who was dropped by Kohli on 26 off Bhuvneshwar Kumar, playing a useful knock down the order.