6 balls, 2 runs and 2 consecutive wickets, the match was overturned in one stroke, if Virat Kohli had not been there, RCB's game was over.

New Delhi. Virat Kohli once again showed why he is considered one of the best chasers in the game. He led Royal Challengers Bangalore to an easy six-wicket win against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in the IPL 2026 opener. Chasing the challenging target of 202 runs, Kohli handled the innings brilliantly and scored unbeaten 69 runs in 38 balls. His innings included five fours and five sixes. With this, RCB achieved the target in just 15.4 overs and started their title defense with a bang. match

Kohli appeared to be in great form from the beginning and despite being away from Tests and ODIs, no battle was visible. He paced the chase brilliantly, rotated the strike early and accelerated at the right time. Once again proved his identity as a master of run chase. He got strong support from Devdutt Padikkal, who played a stormy innings of 61 runs in just 26 balls. Padikkal's aggressive batting kept RCB always ahead of the required run rate, while captain Rajat Patidar also maintained the team's momentum by scoring 31 runs in 12 balls.

Two consecutive wickets had increased the concern

RCB needed 40 runs on 48 balls to win. On one side Virat Kohli and on the other side captain Rajat Patidar were playing bravely. Captain Ishan Kishan gave the responsibility of bowling the 13th over to David Payne. On the second ball of the over, he got Rajat, who was playing on 31 runs, caught by Harsh Dubey. Jitesh Sharma's wicket on the very next ball raised Hyderabad's hopes of victory. Payne turned the match by taking two consecutive wickets for 2 runs. Jaydev Unadkat gave 6 runs in the next over. 30 runs were needed on 36 balls but Virat Kohli showed his ferocity and ended the match. In 16 overs, he finished the match by hitting one six and three consecutive fours.