Venkatesh Iyer IGNORED; Sanjay Bangar Predicts RCB Playing XI For IPL 2026 Featuring Virat Kohli, Phil Salt

IPL 2026: Spotlight would be on Virat Kohli's RCB as they would be the defending champions in 2026. They have a good squad in place this year as well and would be hoping they do well. Days ahead of their IPL 2026 opener against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, former India cricketer Sanjay Bangar picked his RCB playing XI. 

While the XI is on predicted lines, the big surprise is the absence of Venkatesh Iyer. The allrounder does not feature in Bangar's XI. As per Bangar, Devdutt Padikkal is in good form and he would be in the XI and not Iyer. 

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‘No place for him’

"There is no place for him (Venkatesh Iyer). Just because you have paid a lot of money to buy a good player, it doesn't mean there is a place for him. Devdutt Padikkal has played crucial knocks," he said.

"He (Padikkal) wasn't in form at the start, but he played quick knocks close to the playoffs. So he will continue. They will play the first match with almost the same squad if everyone remains fit," Bangar observed.

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Bangar's RCB Playing XI

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

RCB Full Squad for IPL 2026: Rajat Patidar (c), Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Jacob Bethell, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Nuwan Thushara, Rasikh Salam, Abhinandan Singh, and Suyash Sharma, Venkatesh Iyer, Mangesh Yadav, Jacob Duffy, Satwik Deswal, Jordan Cox, Vihaan Malhotra, Kanishk Chouhan, Vicky Ostwal.