New Delhi: Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper Rajat Patidar acknowledged debutant Jacob Duffy’s three-wicket opening spell burst set up their six-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2026 opener.
RCB won the toss and chose to field with man-of-the-match Duffy dismissing Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head and Nitish Kumar Reddy to jolt RCB in the powerplay overs.
SRH were reduced RCB to 29 for three within five overs and though Ishan Kishan’s 38-ball 80 took SRH to 201 for nine, it was not a big enough score to beat RCB.
Virat Kohli‘s 38-ball-69 not out, along with Devdutt Padikkal’s 26-ball 61 took RCB home in only 15.4 overs to begin their title defence on a resounding note, which Patidar attributed to a collective effort.
“Everyone chipped in and did the job. Duffy was playing his first game and the way he played and the wickets he took were the turning point,” Patidar, who scored 31 off 12 balls, said after their win.
Kohli struck his 12th IPL half century in his first T20 match since RCB’s triumph in the final match of the tournament’s previous edition last year.
“No words can describe Virat Kohli. When he is in, the team is always in the chase. He is the No. 1 batter,” Patidar said, adding that his team would bat accoring to conditions rather than hit-all-ball approach.
“Not a policy, we assessed the wicket and it was good. Padikkal and Kohli’s innings were the base. No words for Virat. The way he goes in, the team is chasing,” he said, adding a word of praise for Phil Salt on his acrobatic catch to dismiss Kishan.
“That (Ishan Kishan) was a terrific catch by Salt. Even I was surprised but he is a great fielder. I wanted to create a lot of impact and I wanted to chase this quickly. I just wanted to have a lot of impact,” Patidar said.