Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Virat Kohli, right, and Abhinandan Singh (PTI Photo/Shailendra Bhojak)

Abhinandan Singh has emerged as a new name in the Indian Premier League after being handed his debut by Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the 2026 season opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.The right-arm pacer from Uttar Pradesh has taken a quick rise in the game. Four years ago, he was playing tennis-ball cricket. He is now part of RCB’s playing XI in one of the biggest matches of the season. The medium fast bowler proved to be impressive in the Uttar Pradesh T20 League where he claimed 15 wickets in 11 games while representing the Lucknow Falcons. Abhinandan had already impressed within the RCB camp before the season. He dismissed Virat Kohli in both intra-squad practice matches, which brought him into contention for a spot in the XI. RCB’s pace attack has been affected by multiple absences. Josh Hazlewood is injured, while Yash Dayal has been ruled out of the season. Nuwan Thushara is unavailable due to not receiving an NOC. This opened up a place alongside senior bowlers like Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jacob Duffy. The match also marked the return of cricket to the venue after the stampede during RCB’s title celebrations last year that resulted in 11 deaths. Players wore black armbands as a mark of respect and had trained in No. 11 jerseys ahead of the game. Abhinandan’s selection comes at a time when the team needed a reliable option in its pace unit. His debut marks the start of his journey at the IPL level.Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Playing XI): Virat Kohli, Philip Salt, Rajat Patidar(c), Jitesh Sharma(w), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Abhinandan Singh, Jacob Duffy, Suyash SharmaSunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan(w/c), Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Salil Arora, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Eshan Malinga