Xplorich
Virat Kohli dropped a straightforward catch during the IPL 2026 opener between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Sunrisers Hyderabad, but later made amends by taking the same batter’s catch.The drop came in the 18th over bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar when SRH batter Aniket Verma mistimed a shot. Kohli ran in from long-on but the ball slipped through his hands and brushed his thigh before falling. Kohli appeared surprised, while in the stands, actor and Kohli’s wife Anushka Sharma reacted with laughter. Kohli later completed a catch to dismiss Aniket.In the match, SRH stand-in captain Ishan Kishan scored 80 off 38 balls as Sunrisers Hyderabad posted 201 for nine. His innings included eight fours and five sixes, and he shared a 97-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Heinrich Klaasen, who made 31.
RCB captain Rajat Patidar opted to bowl first on a pitch that had not hosted top-level cricket for nearly 10 months. The decision appeared justified as Jacob Duffy returned figures of 3 for 22 in four overs. The pacer used bounce effectively, troubling the top order.Abhishek Sharma struggled to score freely and was dismissed for 7 after attempting a pull shot. RCB had earlier reviewed an appeal for caught behind against him in the first over, but it did not succeed.Travis Head and Nitish Kumar Reddy also fell attempting pull shots against Duffy as SRH slipped to 29 for three in 4.2 overs. They reached 49 for three at the end of the Power Play.Kishan countered the early setbacks, reaching his half-century in 27 balls with a boundary off Suyash Sharma. He attacked Abhinandan Singh with a sequence of 6, 4, 6 and later hit two sixes in an over off Krunal Pandya.He moved to 80 with a shot over third man off Abhinandan, but was dismissed soon after, caught by Phil Salt near deep backward point.His wicket slowed SRH in the final overs. Aniket Verma made 43 off 19 balls after being dropped by Kohli on 26, but the team added only 59 runs in the last five overs.In reply, defending champions RCB completed the chase in just 15.4 overs. Devdutt Padikkal smashed 61 off 26 balls, Kohli contributed an unbeaten 69 off 38 balls, and Rajat Patidar added 31 off 12 balls as RCB won by six wickets.
