IPL: Royal Challengers Bangalore make a grand start with a win, defeat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 6 wickets

Defending champions Royal Challengers Bangalore started the 19th season of the IPL with a win, defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets. In the match played at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, Sunrisers Hyderabad scored 201 runs while batting first. In response, Royal Challengers Bangalore achieved the target in 15.4 overs with the loss of four wickets. For Bangalore, Virat Kohli scored 69, Devdutt Padikkal scored 61, and Rajat Patidar scored 31 runs. In bowling, Jacob Duffy and Romario Shepherd took three wickets each.

From Sunrisers Hyderabad, captain Ishan Kishan played a notable innings of 80 runs, while Ankit Verma scored 43 and Heinrich Klaasen scored 31 runs. In bowling, Harsh Dubey and Jaydev Unadkat took one wicket each, while David Payne took two wickets.

Chasing a big target of 202 runs, RCB suffered their first blow in the second over in the form of Phil Salt (8). After that, Devdutt Padikkal, who came to bat, along with Virat Kohli, handled the innings and showcased aggressive batting, adding 101 runs for the second wicket. During this, Padikkal completed his half-century. In the ninth over, Harsh Dubey got Padikkal out, ending this partnership. Padikkal played an innings of 61 runs with the help of seven fours and four sixes in 26 balls. Captain Rajat Patidar scored 31 runs, hitting two fours and three sixes in 12 balls. He was dismissed by David Payne in the 13th over. In the same over, Payne also got Jitesh Sharma (zero) out on the very next ball. RCB won the match by six wickets, scoring 203 runs in 15.4 overs with the loss of four wickets. Virat Kohli played an unbeaten innings of 69 runs with the help of five fours and five sixes in 38 balls. Tim David scored an unbeaten 16 runs, hitting one four and one six. For SRH, David Payne took two wickets, while Harsh Dubey and Jaydev Unadkat took one wicket each.