Virat Kohli delivered a masterclass performance to kick off the IPL 2026 season, smashing his 64th IPL half-century and powering defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to a thumping six-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday (March 28).
Kohli entered the tournament having officially retired from both Test and T20I formats, now representing India only in ODIs. However, he demonstrated exceptional form and no rustiness in batting, staying unbeaten on 69 off 38 balls to take RCB over the line with 26 balls to spare in the chase of 202.
After the game, former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin expressed amazement at Kohli’s sustained intensity and fitness despite being 37 years old.
Ashwin also revealed he often tells Kohli during their private chats that he finds his enthusiasm and physical output "quite bizarre at this age".
“I find him quite bizarre at this age. I tell him this during our chats now and then. He was batting on 40-odd, there was a partnership going on, and RCB were coasting. He ran through for the first single, stopped there, and the other batter hadn’t even reached halfway, but he was already looking for a second. That was a 57-metre boundary on the leg side, and it shows the enthusiasm he still brings to the game,” Ashwin said on JioHotstar’s ‘Google Search AI Mode Match Centre Live’.
“He walks the talk. It’s almost like he’s putting on a show for people to see how the game should be played, play it hard and play it the way it’s meant to be played. That stood out to me with respect to what Virat did. And if this is the way RCB are going to bat, Virat needs to bat the full 20 overs,” he added.
Jacob Duffy made a spectacular IPL debut for RCB in the campaign opener, earning the Player-of-the-Match accolade for his spell of 3/22. Playing as a replacement for the injured Josh Hazlewood, the Kiwi pacer dismantled SRH’s explosive top. He struck three times within the powerplay, dismissing Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head and Nitish Kumar Reddy.
Commenting on Duffy, Ashwin said, “When Jacob Duffy was picked at the auction, I was probably the first one to say it was an amazing pick to replace Josh Hazlewood. At that time, he was the No.1 T20 bowler. He had also taken a six-wicket haul in a Test match and is right in the prime of his career. He has bowled a lot in New Zealand and knows exactly what he is doing. What really stood out is that he can swing the ball both ways, but he didn’t try to do that against Abhishek Sharma.”
“The first time he bowled full to Travis Head, he got pumped down the ground, a good lesson learned. After that, he stayed away from that length and bowled very good areas. Tactically, RCB were superior, and he executed those plans beautifully. He was probably the reason the scoring was kept in check. With around 400 runs in the day, it was still a low-scoring game by Chinnaswamy standards,” he remarked.
