Ishan Kishan had top-scored for SRH with 80 runs in 38 balls.
RCB captain Rajat Patidar won the toss and chose to bowl first. With 29 runs on the board, SHR lost its top three players, Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, and Nitish Kumar Reddy. To get SRH back on track, Heinrich Klaasen (31) and Ishan Kishan combined for 97 runs for the fourth wicket.
After reaching a fifty off 27 balls, Kishan looked good with the bat. He then went on a rampage, smashing 80 in 38 balls with eight fours and five sixes. It was Aniket Singh’s brilliant 43 in 18 balls with 3 fours and 4 sixes that SRH managed to post 201/9 in 20 overs.
In response, Phil Salt got out early, but then Devdutt Padikkal went on a rampage against SRH bowlers. He hammered 61 in just 29 balls with 7 fours and 4 sixes and added 101 runs for the second wicket with Virat Kohli.
Kohli played the anchor role, while Rajat Patidar hammered 31 in 12 balls with 2 fours and 3 sixes, keeping RCB way ahead of the required rate. Though RCB lost a couple of cheap wickets, Kohli turned on the heat and switched gears, scoring 69* in 38 balls with 5 fours and 5 sixes.
RCB achieved the 202-run target in 15.4 overs and won the game by 6 wickets.
The cricket fraternity reacted to RCB’s thumping win over SRH in the IPL 2026 tournament opener and lauded RCB’s batting performance on social media.
Here are the posts: