New Delhi. Now only a few hours are left for the 19th edition of the Indian Premier League, the most dazzling tournament in the world of cricket, to begin. Royal Challengers Bangalore, which won its first historic title in the year 2025, will enter the field as the defending champion this time. On Saturday, March 28, 2026, RCB will face the explosive Sunrisers Hyderabad at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. In this journey that started from 2008, RCB saw many ups and downs, but the year 2025 was written in golden letters for this franchise. Veteran Virat Kohli ended his 17-year drought by lifting the trophy at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. However, after winning the title, the team had to go through a period of ownership and some uncertainties, but now this Bengaluru team is ready to silence its opponents with its performance on the field.
On the other hand, Sunrisers Hyderabad team has written a new definition of 'power-hitting' in T20 cricket. The 2016 champion Hyderabad had missed the title in 2018 and 2024 by coming very close to it. Under the leadership of Pat Cummins, this team will once again come with the intention of putting a second star on its jersey. With batsmen like Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, this unit has the ability to destroy any bowling attack.
RCB vs SRH match live telecast details.
Match Details: When, Where and What Time?
See all the important information about this Curtain-Raiser match of IPL 2026 here:
Date: 28 March 2026, Saturday
Venue: M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
Time: The match will start at 7:30 pm (IST).
Toss: 7:00 pm (IST)
Live Streaming and Broadcast: Where to watch the match?
Due to the digital and TV rights of IPL in India, fans have many options to watch the match. The match will be telecast live on Star Sports Network on TV. Fans can enjoy live streaming of the match on Jio Hotstar app and website.
Will keep an eye on them
An interesting match will be seen between RCB's new wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma and Ishan Kishan playing for SRH. Veteran fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be seen in RCB jersey this time against his old team Hyderabad. Due to Chinnaswamy's short boundary and fast outfield, it is expected that there will be rain of sixes in this match.
Full Squads of both the teams
For this season, both the teams have prepared strong squads in the auction as per their strategies.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB):
Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Devdutt Padikkal, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Jordan Cox, Krunal Pandya, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Jacob Bethel, Venkatesh Iyer, Satwik Deshwal, Mangesh Yadav, Vicky Ostwal, Vihaan Malhotra, Kanishk Chauhan, Josh Hazlewood, Rasik Dar, Suyyash Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Nuwan Thushara, Abhinandan Singh, Jacob Duffy, Yash Dayal.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH):
Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klaasen, Ishan Kishan, 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 Paine.
