Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) made a surprise move in their playing combination for the IPL 2026 opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday. For the crucial match of the edition, the defending champions handed Abhinandan Singh his Indian Premier League debut.
Abhinandan Singh is not one of those emerging cricketers who often keep shining. Nearly four years ago, the Uttar Pradesh-born fast bowler was playing tennis-ball cricket, and now, in the fanciest franchise league around the world, he is on the field for defending champions RCB.
Who is Abhinandan Singh?
Abhinandan Singh is a medium fast bowler born in Uttar Pradesh. The 28-year-old fast bowler attracted attention with his controlled bowling during the UP T20 League. The emerging fast bowler is capable of swinging the white ball both ways. Abhinandan’s outswing in particular can be brutal at times.
RCB took Gable, it would be better to say that RCB were forced to take Gable due to injury concerns. The team’s leading bowler Josh Hazlewood is expected to miss the first few matches of the IPL 2026 campaign, and another fast bowler Yash Dayal has been ruled out of the entire season citing personal reasons. In the absence of two important bowlers, Bengaluru had a chance to try something new.
Abhinandan troubled Virat Kohli twice
Before receiving his IPL debut cap, Abhinandan Singh played a few practice matches for the team. According to media reports, the budding seamer took the wicket of Virat Kohli not once but twice in both the intra-squad games. After impressive bowling efforts in those matches, Singh came into contention to play the opening matches of the 2026 Indian Premier League.
With Abhinandan Singh in the playing eleven, the bowling combination of the IPL 2025 winners looks exciting on paper. In Hazlewood’s absence, Jacob Duffy was named in the combination against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Indian veteran fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar is also in the line-up. West Indies all-rounder Romario Shepherd is also present there to shoulder the responsibility of fast bowling. The responsibility of spin bowling is on Krunal Pandya and Suyyash Sharma.
RCB captain Rajat Patidar won the toss and decided to field first at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. The Bengaluru pitch has something for the fast bowlers with the new ball.
“We will bowl first. There are many good players in the team, everyone is fit and I am looking forward to the game. We will try our best to put another star on the jersey,” RCB captain Rajat Patidar said after winning the crucial toss.
Jacob Duffy was aggressive for RCB vs SRH
Jacob Duffy, who bowled brilliantly for the New Zealand cricket team in the 2026 T20 World Cup, continued the same form with RCB. In a spell of four overs, the 31-year-old fast bowler took 3 wickets at an economy rate of 5.5. In his second over of the off spell, he dismissed Abhishek Sharma with a sharp seam delivery.
Sharma was out after scoring only 7 runs out of 8. His opening partner Travis Head also followed in his footsteps soon after, scoring 11 off 9. Again, a fast seam, this time slower than the batsman expected, worked for Duffy and RCB. Nitish Kumar Reddy could only score 1 run before being caught by the fast bowler. Rajat Patidar immediately used Duffy’s quota of 4 overs to keep the pressure on the opposite side.
Read More: RCB vs SRH Impact Players Today: Toss Report, Playing XI, Latest Updates IPL 2026 Match 1
