Former India opener Virender Sehwag defended Royal Challengers Bengaluru despite their stinging 55-run defeat to the Sunrisers Hyderabad in their final IPL 2026 league-stage game in Hyderabad on Friday.
Stepping out to safeguard their top spot in the standings and not concede a defeat in excess of 90 runs to lose a Qualifier 1 spot to SRH, RCB played out a 256-run chase in a unique fashion. Barring the Powerplay, RCB did not ever press into top gear during the chase. A quickfire 44 from Venkatesh Iyer set the innings in motion even when star batter Virat Kohli fell cheaply on 15. On the back of skipper Rajat Patidar’s half-century, RCB finished on 200 in 20 overs, despite only losing four wickets. Despite the spectacular batting, hosts Hyderabad then settled for third spot on Net Run Rate.
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Having retained their Qualifier 1 position at the top of the standings, RCB’s approach was backed by Sehwag.
“What difference does it even make for RCB? They probably knew that they wouldn’t be able to chase 255, but they did try. Virat Kohli must have been angry with the way he played. RCB just assured themselves of reaching 160-170, then they started hitting. Sometimes you win even after losing, and today was that case for RCB,” Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.
Speaking after the match, RCB head coach Andy Flower also spoke about their partly defensive approach in the match.
“We were in a position to keep pushing to chase down 255, but ultimately we got the job done and topped the league. It’s quite a tricky situation when you’ve got these conflicting things. we wanted the batsmen to get a feel of the game out there and make a decision about whether they wanted to take on the 255 or the 180,” Flower said.
With RCB and SRH locked at 18 points along side Gujarat Titans, the defending champions took the spot on the back of a +0.783 NRR. They will take on second-placed GT in the Qualifier 1 match in Dharamsala on Tuesday.
