The 19th edition of the Indian Premier League 2026 will kick off with defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru taking on Sunrisers Hyderabad at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Saturday. While RCB were able to go all the way in the previous season to clinch their maiden IPL crown, whereas SRH had even failed to qualify for the playoffs.

For the new season and with slightly altered teams, both of these sides will look to begin their campaign on a high. 

While RCB will miss the services of their ace fast bowler Josh Hazlewood, SRH will miss their skipper Pat Cummins for the initial phase of the tournament. Ishan Kishan will lead the Orange Army in the absence of Cummins.

Devdutt Padikkal is expected to play ahead of Venkatesh Iyer for RCB whereas Jacob Duffy is expected to fill in the big shoes of Hazlewood. Mangesh Yadav will play in place of Yash Dayal, who has been ruled out due to his personal situation.

SRH’s fast bowling will be a bit of worry in the absence of Pat Cummins and bowlers like Jaydev Unadkat, Brydon Carse, Shivam Mavi and Harshal Patel will need to take the onus on their shoulders.

Head to Head: Matches: 25, Won by SRH: 13, Won by RCB: 11, No result: 1.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru IPL 2026 squad

Rajat Patidar, Virat Kohli, Yash Dayal, Tim David, Jacob Bethell, Romario Shepherd, Josh Hazlewood, Nuwan Thushara, Devdutt Padikkal, Jitesh Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Rasikh Dar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jordan Cox, Suyash Sharma, Venkatesh Iyer, Swapnil Singh, Jacob Duffy, Kanishk Chouhan, Abhinandan Singh, Mangesh Yadav, Phil Salt, Satvik Deswal, Vicky Ostwal, Vihaan Malhotra.

Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL 2026 squad:

Ishan Kishan (c/wk), Heinrich Klaasen, Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Aniket Verma, Smaran Ravichandran, Salil Arora, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins, Liam Livingstone, Kamindu Mendis, Krains Fuletra, Brydon Carse, Praful Hinge, Sakib Hussain, Onkar Tarmale, Jaydev Unadkat, Shivam Mavi, Harshal Patel, Eshan Malinga, David Payne, Harsh Dubey, Amit Kumar, Zeeshan Ansari.