Royal Challengers Bengaluru are set to play Sunrisers Hyderabad in the opening match of the Indian Premier League 2026 (IPL) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Saturday, March 28
Preview
The defending champions, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in the season opener at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday. After many years of waiting, Royal Challengers Bengaluru finally won their first title, and they will now look to carry that confidence into this season, especially while playing at home.
Their batting lineup looks strong, with Virat Kohli and Phil Salt expected to open the innings. The middle order includes captain Rajat Patidar and Devdutt Padikkal. In the finishing role, Tim David and Romario Shepherd will be key players. With Josh Hazlewood unavailable, the bowling responsibility will be handled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Krunal Pandya.
On the other hand, Sunrisers Hyderabad did not have a great season last year, finishing sixth on the points table. Their opening pair of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma will look to start aggressively. The middle order includes Ishan Kishan and Heinrich Klaasen, while Liam Livingstone adds power to the lower order. Overall, both teams have strong lineups, and this match is expected to be an exciting contest for the fans
Match Information
Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, Match 1
Indian Premier League, 28 Mar 2026, Sat, 7:30 PM IST ,Bengaluru
Probable PlayingXI
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, RM Patidar(C), Tim David, KH Pandya, Romario Shepherd, PD Salt, JM Sharma, B Kumar, Suyash Sharma, JA Duffy
Bench: Jordan Cox, Jacob Bethell, Swapnil Singh, VR Iyer, K Chouhan, Vihaan Malhotra, Mangesh Yadav, S Deswal, A Singh, Josh Hazlewood, N Thushara, Rasikh Salam, Yash Dayal, Vicky Ostwal
Sunrisers Hyderabad
LS Livingstone, Shivam Mavi, A Verma, TM Head, Abhishek Sharma, K Nitish Kumar Reddy, H Klaasen, Ishan Kishan(C), HV Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, BA Carse
Bench: Salil Arora, Smaran-R, PHKD Mendis, S Kumar, Harsh Dubey, Amit Kumar, Praful Hinge, Eshan Malinga, Pat Cummins, Zeeshan Ansari, Krains Fuletra, Sakib Hussain, O T Tarmale, David Payne
Injury News – (Will be added when there is an update)
Pitch Report
Captains
Virat RCB | bat – 9
Virat Kohli is an excellent choice for the captaincy role for your fantasy team. He scored 8661 runs at an average of 39.55 and a strike rate of 132 in 267 IPL matches
Abhishek Sharma SRH | all – 8
Abhishek Sharma is a hard-hitting batsman who can score big and take the game away from the bowlers. He has scored 1816 at a strike rate of 163 runs in the IPL
Top
Romario Shepherd RCB | ALL – 8
Romario Shepherd is an outstanding all-rounder and will be one of the top picks for this RCB vs SRH Dream11 Prediction. He scored 185 runs and also took 10 wickets in 18 IPL matches
Krunal Pandya RCB | ALL – 8
Krunal Pandya is a quality all-rounder who has scored 1750 runs and taken over 90 wickets in the IPL. Back him to perform well
Budget
Ishan Kishan SRH | wk – 8.5
Ishan Kishan has scored 2998 runs at an average of 29.11 in his IPL career and will be a top pick against this opposition
Romario Shepherd RCB | all – 8
Romario Shepherd is an outstanding all-rounder and will be one of the top picks for this RCB vs SRH Dream11 Prediction. He scored 185 runs and also took 10 wickets in 18 IPL matches
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Swapnil Singh – RCB | ALL – 9
Vicky Ostwal – RCB | ALL-ROUNDER – 9
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