King Kohli returns to give RCB explosive start to IPL 2026

If Indian cricket fans needed a timely reminder about Virat Kohli’s brilliance, there it was, on full flow in the IPL 2026 opener. The superstar scored a brilliant 69 not out as defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) crushed Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday.

Kohli was the architect of the win, hitting five sixes and as many boundaries in his 38-ball innings that took RCB over the line with four full overs and some change to spare. Devdutt Padikkal’s 26-ball 61 had set the tone and skipper Rajat Patidar’s 12-ball 31 came in handy in a modest chase of 202 runs.

Earlier, SRH’s stand-in skipper Ishan Kishan had smashed a blazing fifty (38-ball 80) but the visitors could only manage a below-par total. Jacob Duffy (3/22) and Romario Shepherd 3/54 were responsible for denying the Hyderabad side an explosive total, the like of which they were used to posting in the recent past.

When the chase resumed, it was all about Kohli, the master batter who had happily stepped away from the T20 internationals and was not remembered much during India’s recent World Cup triumph.

Brief scores: SRH 201/9 in 20 overs (Ishan Kishan 80, Aniket Verma 43, Heinrich Klaasen 31, Jacob Duffy 3/22, Romario Shepherd 3/54) lost to RCB 203/4 in 15.4 overs (Kohli 69 not out, Devdutt Padikkal 61, Rajat Patidar 31, David Payne 2/35)