RCB player Virat Kohli drops the ball (ANI Image)
Virat Kohli dropped a direct catch during the opening match of IPL 2026 between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Sunrisers Hyderabad, but later made amends by taking the same catch.The drop came in the 18th over from Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s catch when SRH batsman Aniket Verma mistimed the shot. Kohli ran from long off but the ball slipped through his hands and touched his thigh before falling. Kohli appeared surprised, while the actor and Kohli’s wife Anushka Sharma reacted with laughter in the stands. 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 posted 201 for nine.
His innings included eight fours and five sixes, and he shared a 97-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Heinrich Klaassen, who made 31.
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RCB captain Rajat Patidar chose to bowl first on a pitch that has not hosted top-level cricket for nearly 10 months. The decision looked justified as Jacob Duffy returned figures of 3 for 22 in four overs. The pacer used the bounce effectively, upsetting the top order.Abhishek Sharma struggled to score freely and was dismissed for 7 after attempting a catch.
RCB had earlier reviewed an appeal against him the first time, but it was unsuccessful.Travis Head and Nitish Kumar Reddy also fell while trying to pull off shots against Duffy as SRH fell to 29 for three in 4.2 overs. They were 49 for three at the end of the Power Play.Kishan fended off the early setbacks, reaching his half-century in 27 balls with a boundary off Suyash Sharma. Abhinandan attacked Singh with a 6, 4, 6 sequence and then hit two sixes 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 over. Aniket Verma made 43 off 19 balls after being dropped by Kohli on 26, but the team added just 59 runs in the last five overs.In reply, defending champions RCB completed the chase by just 15.4 runs. 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.