In less than 24 hours, defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) will lock horns against the SunRisers Hyderabad in IPL 2026’s curtain-raiser at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. However, it is worth reflecting on what happened when the two sides played each other at the iconic venue.
What happened the last time Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) played against the SunRisers Hyderabad at the Chinnaswamy Stadium?
The two teams played only once in IPL 2025 and the fixture was hosted by the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow. However, the two teams battled twice in the 2024 edition and the match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium proved to be a run-fest. Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma played in rollicking fashion, stitching a 108-run stand only in 8.1 overs. After Abhishek fell for a quick-fire 34, Head raised his hundred off only 39 deliveries before perishing for 102 off 40 balls. Heinrich Klaasen also picked up from where Head left off, hammering 67 off 31 balls. Aiden Markram and Abdul Samad chipped in with unbeaten cameos of 32 and 37, respectively, to push the SunRisers to 287/3 in 20 overs, marking it as the highest total of the tournament.
Still fresh in our memories 😌🧡 pic.twitter.com/DZHNJyKhVr
— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) March 27, 2026
The home side also got off to a blistering start in the tall chase as Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis raised an 80-run stand only in 6 overs. While Dinesh Karthik hammered 83 off 35 deliveries, the likes of Will Jacks (7) and Rajat Patidar (9) could not quite get going, hurting their run-chase. In the end, it was only 25 runs separating the two sides following cameos from Mahipal Lomror (19) and Anuj Rawat (25*).
SunRisers Hyderabad to be without Pat Cummins for their first few IPL 2026 games
Meanwhile, the 2016 champions and two-time finalists will be without their regular captain Pat Cummins for the first few games of the 20-team tournament. Due to the right-arm speedster managing his back injury and a packed season lying ahead for Australia, Ishan Kishan will captain the Orange Army until Cummins returns. Although the SunRisers reached the final of IPL 2024, they failed to make it to even the playoffs in the following edition.
SRH squad: Pat Cummins(C), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Smaran Ravichandran, Salil Arora, Harshal Patel, Kamindu Mendis, Harsh Dubey, Brydon Carse, Shivang Kumar, Krainis Fuletra, Liam Livingstone, Jack Edwards, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Zeeshan Ansari, Jaydev Unadkat, Eshan Malinga, Sakib Hussain, Onkar Tarmale, Amit Kumar, Praful Hinge, Shivam Mavi.
