New Delhi: Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin praised Virat Kohli for his unmatched intensity despite having retired from two formats of the game. Kohli has announced retirements from the Test and T20I formats, but is still an integral part of ODIs.
The star RCB batter continued his purple match and smashed an unbeaten 69 runs off 38 balls with the help of five boundaries and as many maximums against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2026 opener at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
“He walks the talk. It’s almost like he’s putting on a show for people to see how the game should be played, play it hard and play it the way it’s meant to be played. That stood out for me with respect to what Virat did,” Ashwin said on a JioHotstar show.
Kohli was already in sensational form coming into the IPL 2026, having scored 93, 23 and 124 in the three-match ODI series against New Zealand, finishing as India’s highest run-getter. He was also the leading run-getter in the three-match series against South Africa in December 2025, smashing 302 runs, including two hundreds.
The former Indian cricketer further cited Kohli’s running between the wickets to show how his energy remains unmatched despite his age and experience.
“I find him quite bizarre at this age. I tell him this during our chats now and then. He was batting on 40-odd, there was a partnership going on, and RCB were coasting,” he added.
RCB beat SRH in IPL 2026 opener
Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 6 wickets in the opening match of the IPL 2026 on March 28. Batting, SRH set a 202-run target for the defending champions. Skipper Ishan Kishan smashed 80 runs off 38 balls with the help of eight boundaries and five maximums.
Aniket Verma also scored 43 runs off balls, but Travis Head (11), Abhishek Sharma (7) and Nitish Reddy (1) failed to make a big contribution. Jacob Duffy and Romario Shepherd picked up three wickets each for RCB.
Chasing the target, RCB got off to a disappointing start as Jaydev Unadkat removed Phil Salt for 8 runs. But Kohli forged a 101-run partnership with Devdutt Padikkal for the second wicket. Padikkal amassed 61 runs off 26 balls, smashing seven boundaries and four maximums.
Captain Rajat Patidar (31 off 12) and Tim David (16*) also made crucial contributions with the bat as the defending champions chased down the target in 15.4 overs.