RCB Batting Too Strong, Says Daniel Vettori After IPL 2026 Opener

SRH coach Daniel Vettori admitted poor bowling after RCB chased 201 with ease in IPL 2026 opener, praising Kohli and Padikkal’s match-winning knocks.

Sunrisers Hyderabad coach Daniel Vettori reviewed the team’s performance after the IPL 2026 opener on March 28. The match took place at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Vettori said the bowling unit failed to maintain discipline.

SRH scored 201/9 in 20 overs. Ishan Kishan led with 80 off 38 balls. Aniket Verma added 43 off 18 balls. Royal Challengers Bengaluru chased the target comfortably. Virat Kohli scored 69 not out from 38 balls. Devdutt Padikkal made 61 from 26 balls. RCB finished the chase in 15.4 overs with 6 wickets left.

Vettori highlighted missed chances after the first wicket. He said bowlers allowed too many scoring opportunities. He then credited RCB for the strong batting.

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“I think we understand where the game’s gone and how destructive that RCB batting line-up is. You have to get a good start, which we did against [Phil] Salt, but then I just think we weren’t at our best with the ball, we weren’t as disciplined as we needed to be, and we gave a lot of scoring opportunities to Virat and Padikkal, who played exceptionally well,” Vettori was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

“I thought the way his [Padikkal’s] intent, when he came out, put us right back under pressure, where we should have been able to maintain a little bit more after getting that important wicket of Salt. So it was a very good batting performance by RCB and one of our poorer bowling performances,” he added.

Daniel Vettori also stressed the importance of strong starts in IPL 2026. He said every game carries high value in the tournament. Vettori noted that SRH discussed their bowling approach before the match. However, the players failed to execute those plans during the game.

“I think we learned a lot from how RCB bowled and what was effective and what wasn’t, and obviously we discussed that, but we just weren’t able to implement that. You don’t want to have a rusty performance because of how important every game is in the IPL, particularly how to start,” Vettori said.

“But today was one of our challenging bowling displays. We saw at the back end when we started to go back to our usual disciplines that we could actually be effective and take some wickets, but I think we just missed our lengths too much. Duffy, in particular, showed the length to bowl on that surface,” he concluded.