Abhinandan Singh has emerged as a new name in the Indian Premier League after making his debut for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the 2026 season opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.The right-arm fast bowler from Uttar Pradesh has grown rapidly in the game. Four years ago he was playing tennis ball cricket. Now he is part of RCB’s playing XI in one of the biggest matches of the season. The medium pacer proved impressive in the Uttar Pradesh T20 League where he took 15 wickets in 11 games representing Lucknow Falcons. Abhinandan had already impressed within the RCB camp before the season. He refused. Virat Kohli in both intra-squad practice matches, which put him in contention for a place in the XI. RCB’s pace attack has been affected by several absences. Josh Hazlewood is injured, while Yash Dayal is out for the season. Nuvan Thishara is not available due to non-receipt of NOC. This opened up a space with senior bowlers. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jacob Duffy. The match also marked the return of cricket after a stampede during RCB’s title celebrations last year that resulted in 11 deaths. The players wore black armbands as a mark of respect and trained in No. 11 jerseys before the game. Abhinandan’s selection comes at a time when the team needed a reliable option in their pace unit. His debut marks the beginning of his journey at the IPL level.Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Playing XI): Virat Kohli, Phillip Salt, Rajat Patidar, Jitesh Sharma, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Abhinandan Singh, Jacob Duffy, Suyash SharmaSunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (W/C), Henrik Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Salil Arora, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel, Jaydev Annadak, Ishan Malinga
