‘He’s at his peak, I’ve no words to describe his innings,’ says Patidar on Kohli’s masterclass in IPL 2026 opener

Bengaluru: Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) skipper heaped praise on former captain Virat Kohli after his unbeaten 69-run knock helped the team register a dominant 6-wicket win against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their opening match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) played at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Kohli smashed an unbeaten 69 off 38 balls, laced with five fours and five sixes, as he registered his 64th IPL fifty and became the first batter in IPL history to cross 4000 runs in chases. With the help of his innings, RCB chased down the target of 202 runs with 26 balls to spare.

“Virat Kohli is our number one chase master, as we know. I always admired his batting, and to watch his batting from the dugout, the way he played, the way he played his shots, the way he assessed the situation, I think that was really good to see always,” Patidar said in the post-match press conference.

‘I feel like he is at his peak, and I have no words to describe his innings. He is my idol, and the way I saw him in the nets – the same energy, the same eagerness to perform and dominate the game. I think that was beautiful, and I am learning a lot from watching him,” he added.

Patidar also described the thought behind giving Jacob Duffy, who was looking in great touch, a fourth consecutive over.

“It was not pre- decided, I decided after the third over. Klassen and Ishan Kishan were already there, and I thought if we get one more wicket here, we will destroy the whole batting line-up, so that’s why I gave him the fourth over and he bowled beautifully,” he said.

“He’s a specialist T20 bowler, and we have a lot of confidence in him. That’s why we have given him a chance, but as we all know, he’s a specialist bowler and the way he’s delivering, the way he’s showing his skill, I think that is tremendous,” he added.

Duffy gave away just 22 runs in four overs and took three crucial wickets for the team in the power play.

ANS