RCB vs SRH LIVE Score: The wait is over as the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season gets underway at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on 28 March (Saturday) with a blockbuster clash between defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). This will be the first match for RCB after they were sold for a whopping Rs 16,600 crore to a four-member consortium.
It will also be the first match for the Royal Challengers as defending champions, having won their maiden IPL title last year by defeating the Punjab Kings (PBKS). Sunrisers Hyderabad, meanwhile, are without their regular skipper Pat Cummins, who is still recovering from an injury setback. Cummins is expected to join the team in the second half of IPL 2026, and Ishan Kishan will be leading them in the meantime.
The first match of IPL 2026 at M Chinnaswamy Stadium will be the first game at the venue after the stampede outside the arena in June 2025 that led to death of 11 RCB fans. The stampede took place during the IPL 2025 victory celebration. RCB have announced that they will keep 11 seats empty forever at Chinnaswamy as a tribute to the lost lives.
RCB vs SRH: Bengaluru weather and pitch reports
There’s no prediction for rain in Bengaluru on 28 February (Saturday). The temperatures would be around 30 degrees Celsius during the match. The pitch at M Chinnaswamy Stadium has always been batting-friendly, but last year it was slightly different.
The highest score at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in IPL 2025 was 213. In some of the games, scoring wasn’t very free-flowing. So it will be interesting to see how the pitch behaves this time around after a little time to prepare.
RCB vs SRH squads
Royal Challengers Bengaluru squad: Virat Kohli, Philip Salt, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Tim David, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Suyash Sharma, Jacob Duffy, Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Salam Dar, Venkatesh Iyer, Mangesh Yadav, Vihaan Malhotra, Vicky Ostwal, Abhinandan Singh, Jacob Bethell, Jordan Cox, Swapnil Singh, Kanishk Chouhan, Satvik Deswal
Sunrisers Hyderabad squad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (wk/c), Liam Livingstone, Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Harsh Dubey, Eshan Malinga, Shivam Mavi, Smaran Ravichandran, Zeeshan Ansari, Salil Arora, Kamindu Mendis, Brydon Carse, David Payne, Praful Hinge, Sakib Hussain, Krains Fuletra, Amit Kumar, Onkar Tarmale, Shivang Kumar


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