Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) former skipper and batting stalwart Virat Kohli once again led the chase from the front and helped the defending champions begin their Indian Premier League (IPL 2026) campaign with a comfortable win in the RCB vs SRH clash today (March 28). While Kohli slammed an unbeaten fifty of 69*(38) to take RCB over the finishing line, it was a fiery knock from Devdutt Padikkal of 61(26) that set the platform for the victory.
Following the win, Virat Kohli revealed how he improvised his batting strategy after seeing how sweetly Devdutt Padikkal was timing the ball. The dynamic right-hander revealed that he had plans of going aggressive in the powerplay but let Padikkal take the reins as RCB registered 76/1 after the first six overs, out of which Padikkal added 41(17).
Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Kohli said, “I mean, right from the word go, I had plans of going aggressive in the powerplay. But when I saw him play, I was like, just keep putting him back on strike and pick the odd boundary here and there. He completely took the game away from the opposition. I even told him, that shot he hit off the slower ball over mid-on for six, at that moment I said, just keep going. You’re hitting the ball amazingly well, just keep pushing and take the game away from the opposition.”
Virat added, “If we finish with 25-26 balls to spare, we’ll also benefit in terms of net run rate. His knock was tremendous. I’ve seen him at close quarters, the skill he has and now he’s applying it.”
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Speaking about the RCB vs SRH match, the defending champions started their IPL 2026 campaign with a convincing win by six wickets and 26 balls left. Filling in the boots of Josh Hazlewood, Jacob Duffy delivered the goods brilliantly, taking three big wickets in the powerplay of Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma and Nitish Kumar Reddy to put SRH on the backfoot early.
It was then Ishan Kishan and Heinrich Klaasen who made amends for the setback with a 97-run stand for the fourth wicket. While Klaasen perished on 31(22), Ishan continued his carnage before falling for a quickfire 80(38). Young Aniket Verma then put the finishing touches with an explosive 43(18) as SRH managed 201/9 in 20 overs.
Coming to the chase, RCB lost Phil Salt cheaply for 8 but then Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal took the game away from SRH. After Padikkal’s departure, RCB skipper Rajat Patidar also came out all guns blazing with a 31(12) to tip the scales further in their favour before Kohli wrapped up the contest and seal the first two points.
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