Most batters need time. A few balls to watch, a few overs to get comfortable before they start taking on the bowling. Padikkal walked out at Chinnaswamy on Saturday and hit the first ball he faced for six. Not a slog. Not a top edge that flew over the fielder. A proper, clean, perfectly timed flick over backward square leg that landed in the stands before half the crowd had even settled into their seats. Kohli stood at the other end and just watched. The ground went crazy. Nobody had seen Padikkal do that before. Not like that.
That First Ball
The delivery from Unadkat was not a difficult one. Full, angling into the pads, the kind of ball a batter fancies from the moment it leaves the hand. But here is the thing about those balls. They only become special when the shot that meets them is something worth remembering. Padikkal flicked it. Cleanly, certainly, without any of the tension a batter usually carries in the first moments of an innings. Like he had already been in for an hour.
The record that came with it was most surprising! According to the data, throughout the T20 career of Padikkal, the batsman had never hit a six off his first three balls. Not in any match where that data exists. Now he had done it off ball one at the IPL opener. That is not a small thing.
What He Did Next
The next 10 balls were something else if you thought that first six was surprising. In his first eleven balls, three fours and three sixes were hit. In face of a bowling attack that had just posted a score of 201 for 9 and was feeling good going into the half time.
He was not just hitting the ball hard either. He stepped out against wider balls and carved them over a diving fielder at deep point. He moved across his stumps early and pulled short balls hard past midwicket. He came down the pitch against slower balls, stayed perfectly balanced, and clipped them over long-on without appearing to hit them at all. He accomplished all of this within his first ten balls faced. He achieved his quickest IPL fifty by scoring fifty runs off just 21 balls. RCB successfully pursued the target of 202 runs with 26 balls.
Where This Form Came From
This was not a spontaneous development. Long before IPL 2026, Padikkal was batting better than ever he did in his career across formats he played.
Trophy Ranji. 543 runs with a score of 60.33. A double century in the semifinals. Hazare Trophy, Vijay. In nine innings, he scored 725 runs at a strike rate of 90.62. He accomplished this through four centuries. Mushfiqur Rahim Trophy 2023. 309 runs at 61.8 with a strike rate of 167.02. He kept scoring runs in every competition he played whether red ball or white ball. A batter arriving at the IPL carrying those numbers does not need time to find his touch. The touch is already there. Saturday night just gave him a stage big enough to show everyone.
The Selection Call and Why It Went His Way
Padikkal sustained a hamstring injury before the conclusion of the last season. In the off-season, RCB went to the auction securing the signing of Venkatesh Iyer, an IPL winner with KKR in 2024 and a player with a century at this level. The signing made sense and created an authentic selection headache in the number three position.
Two tall left-handers with big backlift and long reach. Both are capable of winning T20 games on their own. The call went to Padikkal for the opening match. Off his first ball of the season, he showed in the clearest possible way why that call was made.
Kohli Watching From the Other End
Kohli had the best view in the house for the whole innings. He was present at the non-striker’s end and watched it happen ball by ball. After the match, he spoke about it candidly.
He said he walked out with a plan to attack SRH's bowlers himself during the power play. Then he watched Padikkal hit that first six and just changed his mind on the spot. He kept feeding Padikkal the strike and focused on the odd boundary himself. According to him, Padikkal totally took the match away from the other team and he was just happy to be there at the other end watching.
One shot, in particular, Kohli walked across to Padikkal to speak about. It was a six off a slower ball over mid-on. He told him to just keep going because the way he was hitting the ball was something special. He described his timing as phenomenal. He called his head position and balance world-class. Said his knock was tremendous. For Kohli to talk about another batter that way means something. He has seen the best in the world up close for twenty years, and he does not hand out those words easily.
The two of them put on 101 off 45 balls. By the time that partnership was done, the match was effectively over.
The Padikkal People Knew and the One They Saw Saturday
People who have followed Padikkal know the version of him that has existed in cricket until now. Elegant. Still at the crease. Let the ball come to him and stroke it through the line with the kind of timing that looks almost lazy. That version is genuinely lovely to watch, and it served him well for years.
Saturday was a completely different batter. He was going to the ball instead of waiting for it. Moving his feet early, making room, manufacturing angles that were not there naturally. Stepping out against spinners before they had even released the ball. Reaching out to carve wide balls over a fielder jumping at the boundary. This batter was one who resolved to impose his will on the match rather than let the match come to him.
India Premier League 2025 Immense Change Had Started Becoming Visible Early On. In ten innings, he struck at a rate of 150.6 and 247 runs. It was a massive leap from the 123.14 he managed across all five IPL seasons preceding this one. The improvement was not a one-match thing. It had been building slowly for a while. Saturday night at Chinnaswamy was just the loudest and most complete version of it.
What This Means for RCB
Having Padikkal at number three in this kind of form gives RCB something very valuable going into a long tournament. He showed against SRH that on a good day, he can win a game before it really starts. Kohli remains the same. Using his special way, he finished the chase by hitting Harshal Patel for six, four, four, and four in just one over. By this moment, it was too late for Kohli to go through top gear in the match. Padikkal had seen to that.
If the domestic form he carried into this tournament is anything to go by, there is plenty more of this to come across IPL 2026. A first-ball six in the season opener is a statement. Everything that followed it was a reminder of just how good this batter can be when everything is clicking together at once.