New Delhi: Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) skipper Ishan Kishan smashed a cracking half-century in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 opener against Royal
Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday, March 28. Kishan completed his fifty off just 27 balls with a boundary against RCB spinner Suyash Sharma in the 12th over of his side’s innings.
Kishan, who was in red-hot form for India in the T20 World Cup 2026, continued his dazzling run with the bat for SRH in their opener against RCB on Saturday. The explosive left-hander walked out to bat at no.3 and went on to play a brilliant knock under pressure to bail them out of trouble after their poor start.
Asked to bat first in the game, SRH lost the dangerous opening duo of Travis Head (11) and Abhishek Sharma (7) cheaply to get off to a horror start. Jacob Duffy shone on his debut for RCB with an exceptional spell, dismissing both the left-handers in the same over to put SRH on the back foot. He then got rid of Nitish Reddy on 1 off six balls in his next over to leave SRH reeling on 3/29 in 4.2 overs.
Kishan then combined with Heinrich Klaasen to steady the ship and bring his team back into the contest. The left-hander batted well under pressure and continued in his usual aggressive approach to notch up his fifty off just 27 deliveries. He also went past 3,000 runs in the IPL en route to his fifty and became the sixth fastest Indian to the feat.
Captain @ishankishan51 brings up a fighting fifty – stepping up when it matters 💥
Bhojpuri ka asli mazza sirf JioHotstar par dekhiye! 🎉#TATAIPL 2026 | #RCBvSRH | LIVE NOW 👉 https://t.co/LWOEeT2vNG pic.twitter.com/lDrmtsqkA7
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) March 28, 2026
Kishan became the third player to score a fifty on his captaincy debut for the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL. Manish Pandey (2021) and David Warner (2015) scored a fifty each on their respective captaincy debuts for SRH in the IPL. Kishan is leading SRH in the ongoing IPL 2026 in the absence of regular skipper Pat Cummins, who is yet to regain full fitness, having recovered from a lumbar stress fracture.
Cummins is expected to miss SRH’s first few matches of the season and Kishan will lead the 2016 champions in the absence of the Australian pacer.
