Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru have dominated the powerplay overs of their innings while chasing a 200+ run target against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the season opener of IPL 2026.
The RCB vs SRH game played at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru is Match 1 of the 2026 season of the Indian Premier League. The home side won the toss and decided to bowl first on a track that had some grass on it and thus would have some early movement.
RCB Dominates SRH In Powerplay Match 1
That was the correct decision, as debutant Jacob Duffy decimated the SRH top order in his four-over spell at the start, taking three wickets and conceding 22 runs.
Incumbent Sunrisers captain Ishan Kishan appeared to have secured victory for his team. His 80 off 38 ensured that Hyderabad would reach a respectable score. He would have scored a ton, but was dismissed by an awe-inspiring catch by Phil Salt.
The rest of the batting order crumbled. It was only a fine finishing inning by Aniket Verma, who scored 43 off 18, that took SRH past the 200-run mark, as they finished their allotted 20 overs at 201/9.
Chasing a big total in the opening game of the season, that too at home, RCB did not get off to the best start, as in the second over of their chase, Phil Salt was dismissed for eight runs off seven. However, the powerplay was going to shape up in a very different way than what this wicket suggested.
Some insane attacking by Devdutt Padikkal, who found his place in the playing XI despite the arrival of Venkatesh Iyer into the squad, meant that the Royal Challengers Bengaluru stayed one step ahead while in the powerplay.
Virat Kohli from the other end provided support, rotated the strike, and even scored some boundaries, keeping the scoreboard ticking.
At the end of the first six overs of the RCB inning, in which SRH used Nitish Kumar Reddy, Jaydev Unadkat, David Payne, and Harsh Dubey as bowling options, the Royal Challengers stood at 76/1. Padikkal was batting at 41 off 17, while Kohli was on 20 off 12.
At this point, RCB’s required run rate had gone below nine. They kept this momentum going, as Devdutt Padikkal went on to score a half-century in this opening game of IPL 2026.
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