It was a routine victory for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, with their bowlers setting the game up for their incomparable batsmen by restricting the Delhi Daredevils to just 145 for four in 20 overs.
In reply, Kohli and Yuvraj were at their blazing best, with the latter, in particular, shutting out all his naysayers with a typically aggressive innings.
For the Daredevils, a new-look side, which struggled without their skipper Kevin Pietersen, who missed with a finger injury, it will be about finding their rhythm with all the fresh player in their squad.
"Pretty much everything went wrong for us today," stand-in skipper Dinesh Karthik said. "We didn't bat well at the top, and everything went wrong. It's the first game of the season, and we're still learning on who performs which role and it's important for us to learn and come back in the next game."
The RCB team is all about the batsmen, and rightly too considering their ammunition, but it was the bowlers who stepped up to the plate on Thursday night in Sharjah, and Kohli was all praise for his bowling unit.
"It was a 170-plus track and to hold them down to 145 was big," the skipper said. "[Man of the Match [Yuzvendra] Chahal did extremely well, Varun [Aaron] as well and Mitchell [Starc] too."
