While phil salt: Cricket News & Match Updates

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Former India off-spin great Ravichandran Ashwin has reserved special praise for the energy Virat Kohli brought to his batting, saying he "finds him quite bizarre at this age" after the 37-year-old enthralled the home crowd with an unbeaten 69 balls in Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) win over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the IPL 2026 opener at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Kohli, returning to playing T20 cricket after ten months, scored an unbeaten 69 off 38 balls, laced with five fours and five sixes as RCB launched their campaign in commanding fashion, chasing down a stiff target of 202 to defeat SRH by six wickets with 26 balls to spare.

"I find him quite bizarre at this age. I tell him this during our chats now and then. He was batting on 40-odd, there was a partnership going on, and RCB were coasting. He ran through for the first single, stopped there, and the other batter hadn’t even reached halfway, but he was already looking for a second," Ashwins said on JioStar.   Read More...