Royal Challengers Bengaluru, the defending IPL champions, made an assured start to their title defence by winning the toss and electing to bowl against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the opening match of the 2026 season at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday evening.
The decision was quickly justified during a dramatic and eventful power play dominated by RCB’s new-ball attack, led superbly by debutant Jacob Duffy. The Sunrisers began cautiously but found early momentum through Abhishek Sharma, who survived an early review after RCB lost their first DRS challenge for a caught-behind decision.
Sharma responded emphatically, striking the next delivery for six as Sunrisers moved to 7 without loss after the first over. However, the innings soon unravelled under sustained pressure. Duffy, the New Zealand pacer, made an immediate impact in his first IPL appearance. In a decisive third over, Duffy removed Abhishek with a short ball that ballooned to Jitesh Sharma behind the stumps for just seven, before Travis Head pulled straight to Phil Salt at deep square leg for 11.
Sunrisers slipped to 23 for two, losing both openers inside three overs. Duffy wasn’t finished. Returning in the fifth over, he claimed his third wicket with another sharp short delivery, inducing Nitish Reddy into a miscued pull that was neatly taken by Abhinandan Singh at short mid-wicket for just a single. At 33 for 3 after five overs, Sunrisers were firmly on the back foot.
The sixth over, bowled by Abhinandan Singh, offered brief respite for the visitors. Ishan Kishan, captaining Sunrisers on an interim basis, counter-attacked with two sixes and a four, lifting the score to 49 for 3 at the end of the power play. Kishan finished the Power Play unbeaten on 23 off 10 balls, with South Africa’s Heinrich Klaasen alongside him on 3 not out.
RCB’s power-play bowling, highlighted by Duffy’s 3-wicket burst, underlined the champions’ depth and continuity as they look to set the tone for another strong IPL campaign.
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (capt & wk), Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Aniket Verma, Salil Arora, Harsh Dubey, Eshan Malinga, Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat
IMPACT BENCH: Shivang Kumar, Liam Livingstone, David Payne, R Smaran, Sakib Hussain
ROYAL CHALLENGERS BENGALURU: 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Phil Salt, 3 Rajat Patidar (capt), 4 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 5 Tim David, 6 Romario Shepherd, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Abhinandan Singh, 10 Jacob Duffy, 11 Suyash Sharma
IMPACT BENCH: Devdutt Padikkal, Jacob Bethell, Rasikh Salam, Kanishk Chouhan, Venkatesh Iyer