After guiding Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to emphatic six wickets win over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 opener, Virat Kohli expressed love towards his wife Anushka Sharma with a flying kiss.
Kohli turned to the stands and blew a kiss to Anushka Sharma, who was accompanied by Indian senior women's team players including RCB women's team captain Smriti Mandhana. The crowd responded with cheers, adding a personal touch to an already unforgettable night.
Earlier in the match, put into bat first on a two-paced pitch, SRH rode on captain Ishan Kishan’s sparkling 80 off 38 balls and a late blitz from Aniket Verma (43 off 18 balls) to post 201/9. Kishan’s fluent strokeplay, laced with eight fours and five sixes, and Aniket’s fearless cameo lifted the visitors past the 200-mark despite Jacob Duffy’s impressive debut spell of 3-22 and Romario Shepherd’s 3-54.
In reply, RCB’s top order made light work of the seemingly daunting chase. Devdutt Padikkal set the tone with a rollicking 61 off 26 balls, studded with seven fours and four sixes, while Virat Kohli, returning to playing T20 cricket after ten months, enthralled the home crowd with an unbeaten 69 off 38 balls, laced with five fours and five sixes.
Rajat Patidar chipped in with a brisk 31 off 12 balls to ensure the chase was wrapped up with 26 deliveries to spare. RCB’s innings was marked by aggressive intent from the outset. Padikkal raced to a 21-ball fifty, his fastest in the IPL, before falling to Harsh Dubey.
Kohli then took charge, producing trademark strokes – a lofted push over the bowler’s head, a whip over square leg, and a flat-batted drive through cover – to underline his class and bring up his 64th IPL fifty, as SRH’s bowling attack struggled to contain the flow of runs.