RCB player Virat Kohli drops a catch (ANI Photo) Virat Kohli dropped a straight catch during the IPL 2026 opener between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Sunrisers Hyderabad, but later made amends by taking a catch from the same batter.The slump came in the 18th over off the bowling of Bhuvneshwar Kumar when SRH batsman Aniket Verma mistimed the shot. Kohli ran in from long on but the ball slipped through his hands and brushed his thigh before falling. Kohli looked surprised while in the stands actor and Kohli’s wife Anushka Sharma reacted with laughter. Kohli later completed the catch to dismiss Aniket.In the match, SRH stand-in captain Ishan Kishan scored 80 off 38 balls as Sunrisers Hyderabad scored 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 put on 31.
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RCB’s big changes ahead of IPL: New rules, tribute and squad update RCB captain Rajat Patidar chose to play first at a ground that had not hosted top-flight cricket for almost 10 months. The decision seemed justified as Jacob Duffy returned figures of 3 for 22 in four overs. The stimulator used rebound effectively, which worried the top order.Abhishek Sharma tried to score freely and was dismissed for 7 after attempting a shot. RCB had earlier reviewed the catch appeal against him in the first phase but failed.Travis Head and Nitish Kumar Reddy also fell trying to pull off Duffy as SRH slipped to 29 for three in 4.2 overs. At the end of the over, they reached 49 for three.Facing early setbacks, Kishan reached his half-century in 27 balls at Suyash Sharma’s boundary. He attacked Abhinandan Singh with a sequence of 6, 4, 6 and later hit two sixes in the over off Krunal Pandya.He moved to 80 with a shot over third man from Abhinandan but was dismissed soon after, caught by Phil Salt near deep backward point.His wicket slowed down SRH in the final overs. Aniket Verma made 43 off 19 balls after Kohli dropped her for 26, but the team added only 59 runs in the last five overs.In response, 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.
