IPL 2026 | Skipper Ishan Kishan leads Sunrisers' charge

Bengaluru: The last time Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Sunrisers Hyderabad met in Lucknow, Ishan Kishan stole the show with a belligerent half-century to star in the latter’s victory. It was almost deja vu in Bengaluru on Saturday night in the opening game of IPL-19 as the wicketkeeper single-handedly steered Sunrisers to a competitive total with a power-packed fifty.

As the rest of his colleagues struggled against Royal Challengers, who kept chipping away with wickets at regular intervals through brilliant fielding — Phil Salt especially — and disciplined bowling, Ishan appeared to be playing on a different track at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Kishan’s 38-ball 80 and a wonderful 18-ball 43 from No. 7 Aniket Verma took Sunrisers to 201/9 in 20 overs.

Defending champions Royal Challengers, who were accorded a rousing reception by their ardent fans who packed the venue to its full capacity an hour before the toss, had the Sunrisers in all sorts of trouble early with pacer Jacob Duffy blowing them apart with a fine first spell of 4-0-22-3.

Leading the attack in the absence of frontman Josh Hazlewood, who is still recovering from a double injury, the New Zealander showed he’s a more then an adequate back-up. Apart from getting the ball to move off the surface considerably, he even got the odd ball to climb up sharply with his high release point. He had openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, both of whom like to play with gay abandon, in some discomfort.

He dismissed both in the third over, first scalping Abhishek off the first ball and then Head off the last ball — both falling prey to short balls. While Abhishek top-edged and was caught superbly by Jitesh Sharma running back, Head pulled straight to Salt at deep square leg. Duffy wasn’t done yet. In the next over, he sent back Nitish Kumar Reddy, the all-rounder also succumbing to the short ball as Sunrisers looked in deep trouble.

But once Duffy finished his spell, Sunrisers started to dominate proceedings through Kishan and Henrich Klaasen. The two batters, who only know how to drive in full speed, stuck to their guns to completely shift the momentum with a 97-run stand off 53 balls for the fourth wicket. 

Kishan, who has been in the form of his life since the start of the domestic season last year that even earned him an India recall out of nowhere, absolutely belted everything in his sight. He took a special liking to Abhinandan Singh, carting the pacer for three sixes and two boundaries. The rate at which he and Klaasen kept going, almost effortlessly, it looked like Challengers may end up chasing a massive target.

An exceptional catch from Salt in the 13th over, the fielder covering plenty of yards and then ensuring he didn’t touch the rope despite tumbling over, ended Klaasen’s stay. And when Kishan departed in the 16th over, the Challengers were back in the contest. But Verma swung it back SRH’s way with a brutal cameo at the end.

Jacob Duffy. PTI

Cut-off box - SCOREBOARD
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD: Travis Head c Salt b Duffy 11 (9b 2x4) Abhishek Sharma c Jitesh b Duffy 7 (8b 1x6) Ishan Kishan c Salt b Abhinandan 80 (38b 8x4 5x6) Nitish Kumar Reddy c Abhinandan b Duffy 1 (6b) Heinrich Klaasen c Salt b Shepherd 31 (22b 2x4 1x6) Salil Arora c Padikkal b Suyash 9 (6b 1x6) Aniket Verma c Kohli b Shepherd 43 (18b 3x4 4x6) Harsh Dubey c Padikkal b Shepherd 3 (3b) Harshal Patel c Padikkal b Bhuvneshwar 0 (2b) David Payne (not out) 6 (5b) Jaydev Unadkat (not out 4 (3b). Extras (LB-2 W-4) 6. TOTAL (for 9 wkts 20 overs) 201. 
Fall of wickets: 1-18 (Abhishek) 2-23 (Head) 3-29 (Nitish) 4-126 (Klaasen) 5-137 (Arora) 6-155 (Kishan) 7-167 (Dubey) 8-174 (Harshal) 9-192 (Verma).
Bowling: Jacob Duffy 4-0-22-3 (w-1) Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4-0-31-1 (w-2) Abhinandan Singh 3-0-38-1 Romario Shepherd 4-0-54-3 (w-1) Suyash Sharma 3-0-28-1 Krunal Pandya 2-0-26-0.