Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru registered a six-wicket win against Sunrisers Hyderabad to get their TATA IPL 2026 campaign off in style. Dale Steyn lavished praise on the Devdutt Padikkal–Virat Kohli partnership, while Padikkal himself spoke about how he approached his batting, with Kohli providing advice from the other end.
Devdutt Padikkal explained how they chased down the target with Kohli playing a key:
“It feels good to start off the new season with a win, especially at Bengaluru. The Chinnaswamy Stadium holds a special place in our hearts, and we wanted to give back to our fans who helped us win the trophy last year. When I came out to bat, Virat bhai’s only instruction was to keep the run-rate up and put pressure on the bowlers. My job was to take risks while he anchored the chase. His presence took the pressure off me and let me play freely. We knew SRH’s bowling is not very strong, so we believed we could chase down the target in a smooth manner. We lost Phil Salt early, but it was important to keep the pressure on, so SRH wouldn’t get the chance to come back into the game. We did that well and secured the win.”
On how the RCB coaching staff helped him evolve as a T20 batter:
“The credit for the evolution and improvement of my game goes to our Head Coach Andy Flower and our Batting Coach Dinesh Karthik bhai. They really worked hard on me. It wasn’t easy because there was a lot I needed to change. It wasn’t just technical; it was a lot mentally as well. I needed to really believe that I can play this aggressive brand of cricket. Over the last five or six years, T20 cricket has evolved a lot. When I first came into the IPL in 2020, the cricket we played was very different from what is being played now. So, it was important that I believe in myself that I can do it. I feel Andy and DK helped me get there.”
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Dale Steyn spoke about Virat Kohli’s evolution as a batter:
“A lot of players, when they reach the level Virat Kohli is at right now, look to change their game by a couple of percentages. That is what Virat has been doing every IPL season. He looks for ways to improve himself and the new improvement which he has made in his game is his six-hitting ability, that has increased over the last two seasons. As a batter, it’s about recognizing a ball that you want to hit for a six. In the past, Virat had a set mindset of playing a particular shot. But now, his mentality has changed a lot after retiring from Test cricket. Virat is so good and backs himself so much that he is able to execute the aerial shots time and again. This just shows the class of the man.”
On why SRH failed to defend their total of 201 runs:
“SRH skipper Ishan Kishan batted beautifully. His knock of 80 runs was beautiful to watch. I felt he controlled the innings well and allowed SRH to maintain their aggressive batting intent in the first half. But in the second half, there were literally no plans being implemented by SRH’s bowlers. It is difficult to defend high targets with the kind of bowling attack they have. I was a bit surprised that Nitish Kumar Reddy bowled only those two overs in the Powerplay and never got the chance to bowl after that. So, there are quite a few discussions that need to happen between the SRH team management and the Captain on how best to use their resources. The kind of aggressive cricket they play, even in Hyderabad, the pitch will be a flat deck. So, they need their bowlers to take wickets and put pressure on the opposition batters. Otherwise, it will be a massive challenge defending a score of 200-plus runs for this SRH side with the kind of bowlers they have. They need to be smarter. They have to bowl differently and stick to a plan, which unfortunately against RCB they could not.”
