Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Mumbai Indians
10 May 2026
Tim David was fined 30% of his match fee and handed two demerit points after appearing to raise his middle finger towards the Mumbai Indians dugout as RCB's two-wicket win sealed MI's exit from IPL 2026 — a gesture broadcast cameras caught live and social media amplified within minutes.
Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru
14 April 2026
Tim David fined 25% of match fee for twice refusing to hand the ball to umpires in the same match — a Level 1 Code of Conduct breach.
Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru
23 May 2026
Virat Kohli walked past an outstretched hand from Travis Head without acknowledgement at the post-match handshake ceremony following Sunrisers Hyderabad's 55-run defeat of Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on 23 May 2026. The snub came after a heated on-field exchange in RCB's chase of a massive 256-run target, during which Kohli, set up by Venkatesh Iyer's blazing start, taunted Head by miming the Impact Player signal and appearing to invite him to come and bowl. Kohli was dismissed for 15 off 11 balls — to a bowler other than Head — and Head's parting line, audible to multiple broadcasters, was: "Mate, you got out before I even came on to bowl." After the match, Kohli shook hands with SRH captain Pat Cummins and Abhishek Sharma but visibly bypassed Head, who was standing in the handshake line with his arm extended. Head's subsequent Instagram story — "Keep the body guessing" — went viral.
Gujarat Titans vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru
30 April 2026
Rajat Patidar was given out caught by Jason Holder in the deep during RCB's match against Gujarat Titans on 30 April 2026, in a third-umpire decision that triggered one of the season's most heated on-field arguments. Replays showed Holder still moving and sliding as he completed the take, and Aakash Chopra publicly described the umpire as "the villain" of the call. Virat Kohli, fielding when the next innings began, walked across to argue with the umpires — a clip that was the most-shared cricket video in India for 24 hours.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Gujarat Titans
24 April 2026
Sai Sudharsan, opening for Gujarat Titans against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on 24 April 2026, scored a 57-ball century that took him past Chris Gayle's longstanding mark to become the fastest player by innings count to reach 2,000 IPL runs. Sudharsan reached the milestone in 47 innings; Gayle had taken 48.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
5 May 2026
Bhuvneshwar Kumar took 17 wickets through the IPL 2026 league phase — second on the season's wicket-takers chart behind Kagiso Rabada — and produced one of the most distinctive personal resurgences of the campaign for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. After several seasons in which his swing-bowling craft had been considered past its peak, his IPL 2026 was a return to the form that had defined him a decade earlier.
Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru
12 April 2026
Rohit Sharma sustained a hamstring injury during MI's 12 April 2026 match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru and missed at least three subsequent matches as a result. The injury, suffered during a stretching shot, came at a moment when MI's struggling 2026 campaign could not afford the loss of its most experienced batter.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Sunrisers Hyderabad
22 March 2026
The first controversy of IPL 2026 arrived in the tournament's opening match. Sunrisers Hyderabad batter Heinrich Klaasen was given out for 31 off 22 balls when Phil Salt held a low catch at the deep boundary off Romario Shepherd's bowling. Third umpire Rohan Pandit, working with the angles available to him during the review, ruled the catch fair on the basis of inconclusive evidence. Minutes later, broadcasters aired a top-angle replay that had not been provided during the review and which appeared to show the boundary cushion moving as Salt completed the take. Klaasen, by then walking off, was filmed in a heated exchange with the fourth umpire near the boundary rope.