Irfan Pathan Predicts RCB's Playing XI For IPL 2026 Featuring Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar

IPL 2026: Royal Challengers Bengaluru won their maiden IPL title last year after a wait for 17 years. Come IPL 2026, RCB would start as defending champions and hence there is a lot of buzz around the franchise over who would feature in the playing XI. Amid such speculations, former India cricketer Irfan Pathan has revealed his XI for RCB before the auction. As per Pathan, RCB need Josh Hazlewood's back-up and that role cannot be executed by Yash Dayal, who has hardly played any cricket since IPL 2025. Despite these existing problems, Pathan reckons RCB look like a champion side. 

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‘Backup for Hazlewood will be essential’

"They've sent out Liam Livingstone because they've plenty of overseas options. Jacob Bethell will also not make the playing XI unless there is an injury. The only thing they've to keep in mind is Hazlewood would have also played a lot of cricket. So having a backup for Hazlewood will be essential. Also Yash Dayal hasn't played any cricket since the IPL and is facing a lot of off the field issues. So having that backup is crucial for RCB. But they look like a champion side and ready to play."

For the unversed, there is going to be a mini auction as well on December 16 in Abu Dhabi and there one could see RCB a few players to their roster as well. During their winning campaign, Kohli and Patidar, along with Hazlewood played crucial roles. These three would again be the most important players for the franchise. 

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Pathan's Predicted RCB XI

Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar, Tim David, Jitesh Sharma, Romario Shephard, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal