For most of their time in IPL, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have been in constant pursuit of the coveted IPL title.
However, everything changed in the last season when they won that elusive IPL championship. Now, they are the team that everyone wants to beat this season.
The core of the team remains the same, and even the support staff remains intact. They’ve refreshed the staff subtly. RCB got Venkatesh Iyer for just INR 7 crore. His inclusion added heft to an already impressive indian batting unit.
They’ve also added players like Jordan Cox. In addition to that, they’ve also purchased Vihaan Malhotra and Kanishk Chouhan as long-term prospects.
In their last season’s victory, batting played an important role. The numbers 5 to 8 in their batting line produced the best strike rate and average combination in the league. It was a steep departure from when they depended on a couple of players to make most of the runs for the team. They built a batting lineup that can match any squad in the realm of modern T20 batting.
Primary Playing XI for IPL 2026: Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Tim David, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Romario Shepherd/Jacob Bethell, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Dar/Mangesh Yadav
If we look at injured players for RCB, Josh Hazlewood is the top. He hasn’t bowled since November 10. His hamstring and Achilles issues have ruled him out for a few important national assignments. It is reported that he will be unavailable for a few matches.
It is also confirmed by the Director of Cricket of RCB that Yash Dayal will not play for RCB this season.
They have a great powerplay bowling combo in Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hazlewood. In the 2025 season, RCB’s pace bowlers took most wickets (25) in the powerplay.
However, Hazlewood’s absence could prove to be costly for RCB.
Jacob Bethell will be the one player to keep an eye out for. He has been magnificent for most of the year; it will be difficult for RCB to keep him out of the playing XI. He has only played two games so far but it likely that he will play many more this season as his stock have multiplied manyfold since then.
