Kohli, Padikkal shine as RCB chase down 202 with ease against SRH in season opener

NEW DELHI: Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) began their IPL 2026 run with a six-wicket triumph implicit Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) connected Saturday astatine M Chinnaswamy Stadium successful Bengaluru, driven by half-centuries from Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal.Chasing 202, RCB reached 203 for 4 successful 15.4 overs. Padikkal scored 61 disconnected 26 balls, portion Kohli remained unbeaten connected 69 from 38 deliveries. The brace added 101 runs for the 2nd wicket successful conscionable 45 balls aft the aboriginal dismissal of Phil Salt.Padikkal and Kohli approached their innings differently. Padikkal relied connected timing and placement, portion Kohli focused connected drives and shots consecutive down the ground. Padikkal attacked pacer David Payne with a series of 6, 4, 6 and aboriginal deed Harsh Dubey for a bound and a six successful successive deliveries.

He reached his 50 successful 21 balls with a 4 disconnected Harshal Patel.Kohli kept the scoring steady, utilizing his scope of shots against Jaydev Unadkat and Eshan Malinga. RCB’s scoring complaint remained high, with the squad reaching 50 successful the 4th over, 76 successful the Powerplay and 100 successful 8.1 overs.Padikkal was yet dismissed, caught by Heinrich Klaasen astatine long-on. Klaasen had earlier dropped Kohli connected 28. Kohli went connected to implicit his half-century successful 33 balls.

RCB skipper Rajat Patidar contributed 31 disconnected 12 balls to support the pursuit connected track. The dismissals of Patidar and Jitesh Sharma did not alteration the outcome, arsenic Kohli finished the pursuit with a series of boundaries disconnected Harshal Patel.Earlier, SRH posted 201 for 9 aft being asked to bat first. Stand-in skipper Ishan Kishan led the innings with 80 disconnected 38 balls, including 8 fours and 5 sixes. He added 97 runs for the 4th wicket with Klaasen, who made 31.RCB’s determination to vessel archetypal came connected a transportation that had not seen top-level cricket for astir 10 months. The determination paid disconnected aboriginal arsenic debutant Jacob Duffy took 3 for 22 successful 4 overs, utilizing bounce to occupation the batters.Duffy was awarded Player of the lucifer for his exceptional performance. Abhishek Sharma struggled to people and was dismissed for 7 aft attempting a propulsion shot. RCB had besides reviewed an entreaty against him successful the archetypal over, but it was unsuccessful.

Travis Head and Nitish Kumar Reddy besides fell playing akin shots arsenic SRH slipped to 29 for 3 successful 4.2 overs.Kishan past countered the pressure. He reached his 50 successful 27 balls and attacked Abhinandan Singh and Krunal Pandya with aggregate boundaries and sixes. He moved to 80 with a deed implicit 3rd antheral but was dismissed soon after, caught by Phil Salt adjacent heavy backward point.After Kishan’s dismissal, SRH mislaid momentum successful the last overs. Aniket Verma scored 43 disconnected 19 balls, having been dropped by Kohli connected 26 disconnected Bhuvneshwar Kumar, but the squad added lone 59 runs successful the past 5 overs.Brief scores:Sunrisers Hyderabad: 201/9 successful 20 implicit (Ishan Kishan 80, Ankit Verma 43; Jacob Duffy 3/22).Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 203/4 successful 15.4 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 61, Virat Kohli 69 not out).