In the IPL 2026 opening match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday, defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by a dominating six wickets to begin their championship defense.
Thanks to smooth half-centuries from Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal, RCB easily defeated the goal while chasing 202, racing home in just 15.4 overs. After playing a Twenty20 match for the first time in ten months, Kohli stayed undefeated on 69 off 38 balls, smashing his 64th IPL fifty and captivating the Chinnaswamy crowd with five fours and as many sixes.
Padikkal, on the other hand, set the tone for the chase to be completed with 26 balls remaining by hitting a thrilling 61 off 26 balls, studded with seven fours and four sixes, with graceful timing and wristy stroke-play.
SRH’s 201/9 appeared competitive at the halfway point, but the way Kohli and Padikkal, together with captain Rajat Patidar’s 12-ball 31, destroyed a weak bowling attack indicated that even 250 would not have been enough that evening.
Sunrisers Hyderabad made an early breakthrough when veteran left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkat dismissed Phil Salt with a length ball that stopped on the batter and flew up to mid-of, avoiding a collision with his fellow fielder.
In the same over, Kohli opened the score with a slice over mid-off, while Padikkal got things rolling by flicking over deep square leg for six. But Padikkal kept up his explosive start, hitting 28 off 10 balls. RCB reached 51 runs in only four overs when he greeted David Payne to the IPL with a six over cover-point and then whipped him for a four and six.
After hitting Unadkat for six, Kohli quickly joined the attack, building pace against his cutter and flat-batting him through cover. RCB controlled the powerplay, amassing 73 runs for Salt’s loss after Padikkal scored two more boundaries.
The Chinnaswamy crowd erupted in applause as Kohli executed his signature shot against Eshan Malinga, lofting a length ball straight over the bowler’s head. Heinrich Klaasen’s miscalculation of a long-on opportunity on 28 gave him a reprieve.
Padikkal kept up his momentum, reaching his fastest half-century in the IPL with 21 balls before falling for 61 and holing out to long-off against Dubey. While everything was going on, Kohli demonstrated his wrist strength by whipping over Harshal Patel’s square leg and sent Dubey hurtling to the ground for another maximum.
With a sharp four through backward point and a six over long-on off Patel and Dubey, Rajat Patidar entered the group of boundary hitters. Patidar easily hit Malinga for a four and two sixes when he missed his lengths, and the 12th over yielded 22 runs.
Despite Patidar and Jitesh Sharma falling on consecutive deliveries to Payne, Kohli advanced to reach his fifty in thirty-three balls before Tim David hit two fast boundaries. After lofting, pulling, and carving Patel for a six and two fours, Kohli concluded the chase in style with an upper cut through third man.
Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bengaluru 203/4 in 15.4 overs (Virat Kohli 69 not out, Devdutt Padikkal 61; David Payne 2-35, Jaydev Unadkat 1-29) defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad 201/9 in 20 overs (Ishan Kishan 80, Aniket Verma 43; Jacob Duffy 3-22, Romario Shepherd 3-54).
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