RCB vs SRH: IPL debuts for Duffy, Salil Arora and Abhinandan Singh

Uncapped Abhinandan got a debut for RCB, while SRH gave Salil Arora a go

Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain Rajat Patidar won the toss and elected to bowl against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the opening game of IPL 2026.

Sunrisers' captain Ishan Kishan, who is standing in for regular skipper Pat Cummins, who is working his way back from injury, wasn't too fussed about the outcome of the toss, suggesting that a fresh pitch might not change later in the evening.

RCB handed out IPL debuts to New Zealand seamer Jacob Duffy and the uncapped Abhinandan Singh, who had attracted the attention of the franchise's scouts during the UPT20 league. Abhinandan, 28, is yet to play an official game for his state. He got the nod ahead of left-arm quick Mangesh Yadav. Duffy is expected to fill in for RCB until their premier fast bowler Josh Hazlewood is fit.

There was no room for Jacob Bethell, with Phil Salt, Tim David and Romario Shepherd also featuring in RCB's bowl-first XI. Devdutt Padikkal and new recruit Venkatesh Iyer were among the Impact Sub options for RCB.

As for SRH, they had an IPL debutant of their own in Salil Arora, who hit 28 sixes in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Only Kishan, his franchise captain now, had struck more sixes than him during that competition. However, there was no room for Liam Livingstone in their bat-first XI. Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen and Eshan Malinga all featured in that XI, though. David Payne, a powerplay specialist who recently won the BBL and ILT20, was among the Impact Sub options for SRH.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Phil Salt, 3 Rajat Patidar (capt), 4 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 5 Tim David, 6 Romario Shepherd, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Abhinandan Singh, 10 Jacob Duffy, 11 Suyash SharmaImpact bench: Devdutt Padikkal, Jacob Bethell, Rasikh Salam, Kanishk Chouhan, Venkatesh Iyer

Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Travis Head, 3 Ishan Kishan (capt & wk), 4 Heinrich Klaasen, 5 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 6 Aniket Verma, 7 Salil Arora, 8 Harsh Dubey, 9 Eshan Malinga, 10 Harshal Patel, 11 Jaydev UnadkatImpact bench: Shivang Kumar, Liam Livingstone, David Payne, R Smaran, Sakib Hussain