IPL 2026 starts from today…, first match between RCB and SRH, Virat Kohli-Ishan Kishan will face each other.

Bengaluru. The 19th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is going to start on Saturday (28 March). The opener match of this season will be played between defending champions Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (Sunrisers Hyderabad.-SRH). This match will start at 7.30 pm Indian time at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, where fans can see rain of sixes and fours.

In this match, most eyes will be on Royal Challengers Bangalore’s veteran batsman and former captain Virat Kohli, who will take the field after a long time. The captaincy of young wicketkeeper batsman Ishan Kishan will also be tested. Ishan is going to captain Sunrisers Hyderabad in the initial matches due to injury to regular captain Pat Cummins.

The dangerous opening pair of Sunrisers Hyderabad, Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma is no less than anyone. If seen, the trio of Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan have created problems for every team in the last two seasons. All three are adept at fast batting in the powerplay, changing the course of the match with a fast start and making big scores easy.

RCB would like to take revenge for the previous defeat

Sunrisers Hyderabad broke many records in the 2024 season, in which the team reached 100 runs in just 30 balls against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). Last season, when SRH and RCB faced each other, SRH had scored 231 runs. In that match, Ishan Kishan played an explosive inning of 94 unbeaten runs in 48 balls. RCB lost that match by 42 runs, but the team later made a spectacular comeback and won the IPL trophy for the first time.

Royal Challengers Bangalore is looking even stronger this time, apart from Virat Kohli, the team includes match-winning players like Phil Salt, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Venkatesh Iyer, Jacob Duffy and Jordan Cox. Under the leadership of captain Rajat Patidar, the team will aim to win the second consecutive title. However, the team will miss fast bowler Josh Hazlewood, who has not been able to regain full fitness yet.

The matches between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad have been exciting. A total of 26 matches have been played between the two teams in the IPL so far. During this period, Sunrisers Hyderabad won 14 matches. Whereas Royal Challengers Bangalore won in 11 matches. One match also remained inconclusive.

Probable playing-12 of Royal Challengers Bangalore: Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (captain), Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Suyyash Sharma, Jacob Duffy, Rasik Salaam Dar.

Probable playing-12 of Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (C/W), Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Liam Livingstone, Aniket Verma, Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Braydon Carse, Shivam Mavi, Zeeshan Ansari

Royal Challengers Bangalore squad: Rajat Patidar, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Jordan Cox, Krunal Pandya, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Jacob Bethel, Venkatesh Iyer, Satwik Deswal, Mangesh Yadav, Vicky Ostwal, Vihaan Malhotra, Kanishk Chauhan, Josh Hazlewood (injured), Rasik Salaam. Dar, Suyash Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Nuwan Thushara (injured), Abhinandan Singh and Jacob Duffy.

Sunrisers Hyderabad Squad: Pat Cummins (injured), Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klaasen, Ishan Kishan (captain/wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Liam Livingstone, Harshal Patel, Kamindu Mendis, Brydon Carse, Harsh Dubey, Aniket Verma, Smaran Ravichandran, Salil Arora, Jaydev Unadkat, Shivam Mavi, Zeeshan Ansari, Ishan Malinga, Saqib Hussain and David Payne.

On one side is the dangerous top order of Sunrisers Hyderabad, and on the other side is the balanced team of champion RCB… In such a situation, this match is expected to be completely high scoring and full of thrill.