IPL: No Bethell or Padikkal for RCB as defending champions opt to bowl against SRH; check both teams playing XI

NEW DELHI: Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Saturday won the toss and decided to field against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the tournament opener at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.Interestingly, England batter Jacob Bethell and Indian left-handed batter Devdutt Padikkal were not included in the RCB playing XI. After winning the toss, RCB captain Rajat Patidar said they will try their best to put a second star on the jersey."We'll bowl first. Of course, there are a lot of positives from last year, but as we go into this season, we are not defending; we'll try to be champions again in 2026. I think there are a lot of good players in the side and we have proper backups for every position. There's a good support system and medical team as well. So yeah, everyone is fit and looking forward to this game. Thank you so much for supporting us over the years. We'll try our best to put a second star on our jersey. There are two new faces - Jacob Duffy and Abhinandan Singh, who are going to play their first match," Patidar said.Meanwhile, Hyderabad stand-in skipper Ishan Kishan said they will try to execute their plans against the defending champions.Playing XI of both teams:Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan(w/c), Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Salil Arora, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Eshan Malinga.Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Playing XI): Virat Kohli, Philip Salt, Rajat Patidar(c), Jitesh Sharma(w), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Abhinandan Singh, Jacob Duffy, Suyash Sharma.