Bengaluru

Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru won the toss and elected to field against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the opening match of the season at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday.

RCB skipper Rajat Patidar said the team is focused on retaining the title and adding another star to their jersey. “We’ll bowl first… we are not defending; we’ll try to be champions again in 2026,” he said, expressing confidence in the squad’s depth and fitness.

On the other side, SRH are being led by stand-in captain Ishan Kishan, who at 27 years and 253 days has become the franchise’s second-youngest skipper, behind Kane Williamson (27 years, 244 days in 2018).

Kishan, after losing the toss, remained unfazed and stressed execution over conditions. “Looks like a fresh wicket… we need to execute our plans. Everyone looks in good touch,” he said.

The match marks the beginning of a highly anticipated season, with both teams fielding strong line-ups.

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Playing XIs:

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (c/wk), Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Salil Arora, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Eshan Malinga.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Virat Kohli, Philip Salt, Rajat Patidar (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Abhinandan Singh, Jacob Duffy, Suyash Sharma.

With a packed stadium and strong fan support, the clash promises an exciting start to the tournament.