IPL 2026: Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) began the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season in style as the defending champions defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets in the season opener of the IPL 2026 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday, March 28. Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal were the stars of the show as RCB recorded the fastest 200+ chase in the history of the IPL.
Chasing a big total of 202, RCB cruised to the target with 26 balls to spare, thanks to the vintage performance of Virat Kohli and the explosive innings of Devdutt Padikkal. RCB started their chase with a couple of boundaries in the first over from the bat of Phil Salt, but the latter got out in the next over for eight runs. However, Virat Kohli looked in top form from the first ball. He played a fantastic innings of 69 runs off 38 balls, hitting five sixes.
He became the first batter to score 6000 runs in the T20s. Kohli also became the first batter in IPL history to cross 4000 runs in chases. However, it was Devdutt Padikkal who stole the show in the middle overs. Padikkal played with a strike rate of 234.62, bludgeoning 61 runs off just 26 balls, including four sixes and seven fours. His assault on the SRH spinners took the game away from the visitors entirely. Brief cameos from Rajat Patidar (31 off 12) and Tim David (16) ensured there were no late hiccups as RCB cruised to 203/4 in just 15.4 overs. Earlier in the match, Sunrisers Hyderabad staged a strong recovery from an early collapse to post a competitive 201/9.
After losing three quick wickets in the power play, a brilliant knock from Ishan Kishan and key contributions down the order powered Hyderabad past the 200-run mark. The defending champions were off to a fantastic start, with debutant and RCB speedster Jacob Duffy removing Hyderabad openers for a cheap score. Sunrisers lost Abhishek Sharma during the first ball of the third over. The left-handed batter scored seven runs. On the last delivery, Duffy then removed Travis Head for just 11 runs as the visitors scored 23 runs.
Sunrisers lost their wicket when debutant Duffy dismissed all-rounder Nitish Reddy for just one run during the second ball of the fifth over. After the end of the sixth over, Hyderbad scored 49/3. Stand-in skipper Ishan Kishan and wicketkeeper-batter Heinrich Klaasen stabilised the ship for Hyderabad as they reached 70/3 in eight overs. Hyderabad reached a decent position after 10 overs, as they scored 87/3. All-rounder Romario Shepherd broke the dangerous 97-run stand between Klaasen and Kishan after the wicketkeeper-batter departed for 31 runs during the first ball of the 14th over.
In the very next over, leg-spinner Suyash Sharma took the wicket of Salil Arora, who made nine runs as Sunrisers reached 142/5. During the last ball of the 16th over, he took the much-needed wicket of Ishan Kishan, who departed after playing a fantastic knock of 80 runs off 38 deliveries, including eight fours and five sixes. Hyderabad lost two more wickets after Shepherd dismissed Harsh Dubey for just three runs and Bhuvneshwar Kumar scalped the wicket of Harshal Patel, who departed after scoring a two-ball duck. Hyderabad reached 175/8 after the end of the 18th over.
During the 19th over, Aniket Verma hammered two sixes and a four before Romario took revenge and removed Verma. The right-handed batter played a blistering knock of 18-ball 43, including three fours and four maximums. Towards the end, Sunrisers crossed the 200-run mark as they finished at 201/9 in 20 overs. For the defending champions, Jacob Duffy (3/22) and Romario Shepherd (3/54) scalped three wickets apiece. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/31), Abhinandan Singh (1/38), and Suyash Sharma (1/28) bagged one wicket apiece.
With ANI Inputs
