How many times has RCB played the first match of the IPL season, how has been the track record?

The schedule for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been released. IPL 2026 will start from March 28. Due to elections in many states, the schedule of the first 20 matches has come. This time the opening match has been held between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). These two teams also faced each other in the opener of IPL 2017, in which SRH won by 35 runs after scoring 207 runs.

In that match played at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, Yuvraj Singh, playing for SRH, played a brilliant inning of 62 runs in 27 balls, hitting 7 fours and 3 sixes. RCB, without injured Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, was all out for just 172 in 19.4 overs while chasing the target of 208 runs. That season RCB finished last in the points table.

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RCB will enter IPL opener for the seventh time

RCB has played the first match of the IPL season 6 times so far. This time it will be his seventh IPL opener. Only Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders have played more opening matches of IPL than that.

Talking about RCB’s record in the IPL opener, it has lost 4 matches while winning only 2. His one win was against Mumbai Indians in 2021. The second win was achieved by RCB by defeating Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) last season. This season RCB also completed its title drought.

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RCB’s record in IPL opener

• Matches played – 6
• Loser – 4
• won – 2

The opening match that made IPL the golden bird

The first match in IPL history was played between RCB and KKR at MChinnaswamy Stadium. That match on the night of 18 April 2008 had decided what the future of IPL would be like. KKR, captained by Sourav Ganguly, scored a huge score of 222 runs when invited to bat first. According to that time it was not less than 300 runs. New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum played a historic inning of 158 runs in 73 balls, which included 10 fours and 13 sixes. McCullum single-handedly took KKR to this magical figure. The second best score by the team was 20, which was made by Australian legend Ricky Ponting with a strike rate of 100 from 20 balls.

RCB, captained by Rahul Dravid, chasing the huge target, was reduced to just 82 runs in 15.1 overs. Except Praveen Kumar (18), who came at number 9, no RCB batsman could reach double digits. Players like Dravid (2) and Jacques Kallis (8) returned cheaply to the pavilion. Virat Kohli, who was uncapped at that time, could score only 1 run after playing 5 balls. He was clean bowled by Ashok Dinda. KKR tied the score in the opening match of IPL by registering a big win by 140 runs. It took years to break the records made in that match.

RCB’s track record in IPL opener

• 2008 – KKR beat RCB by 140 runs
• 2017 – SRH beat RCB by 35 runs
• 2019 – CSK beat RCB by 7 wickets
• 2021 – RCB beats MI by 2 wickets
• 2024 – CSK beat RCB by 6 wickets
• 2025 – RCB beats KKR by 7 wickets