The wait is finally over! IPL 2026 kicks off tonight at the iconic M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru as defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru take on a fired-up Sunrisers Hyderabad in what promises to be a massive run-fest.

Toss Update 🪙 RCB captain Rajat Patidar won the toss and chose to bowl first. SRH are currently batting.

Playing XIs

RCB: Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Rajat Patidar (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Abhinandan Singh, Jacob Duffy, Suyash Sharma

SRH: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (c/wk), Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Salil Arora, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Eshan Malinga

What to Expect 🏏

Chinnaswamy is historically a batter’s paradise with short boundaries and flat pitches. Both teams love to attack — expect total scores crossing 200 easily tonight.

RCB’s concern is their bowling. Without Josh Hazlewood (yet to arrive fully fit), they rely heavily on Bhuvneshwar Kumar for early wickets. Meanwhile young Abhinandan Singh gets a debut opportunity.

For SRH, the big story is Ishan Kishan leading the side in Pat Cummins’ absence. Kishan arrives in red-hot form off India’s T20 World Cup triumph and will be the one to watch.

Key Battles 👀

⚡ Virat Kohli vs Harshal Patel — the old rivalry resurfaces

⚡ Travis Head vs RCB spinners — can Krunal Pandya contain the Australian?

⚡ Ishan Kishan’s captaincy debut — can he boss around like he did for Jharkhand?

Fun Fact 🎉

Virat Kohli needs just 29 runs tonight to go past Shoaib Malik in the all-time T20 run-scoring list worldwide. History could be made tonight at Chinnaswamy!

Where to Watch 📺

TV: Star Sports 2 HD/SD Streaming: JioHotstar app

IPL 2026 — 74 matches, 10 teams, one champion. Let the games begin! 🏆