Strongest Royal Challengers Bengaluru playing XI for IPL 2026

Last season, finally, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru won their maiden IPL title after 18 years of drought, but now the tables turn because they will enter for the very first time in the history of the IPL as defending champions. They will have a chance to win two consecutive titles. If RCB manages to defend their title, they will become the third team to win two consecutive IPL titles. Previously, CSK (2010 & 2011) and MI (2019 & 2020) have done so.

But it will not be easy for RCB in the upcoming edition. For this remarkable achievement, they will have to play their A+ game. 

Royal Challengers Bengaluru already have a lot of star players in their squad. While the franchise acquired Jacob Duffy, Venketesh Iyer, and U19 World Cup-winning Indian team member Vihaan Malhotra as key players. 

The RCB team is once again looking very strong and can defend their title. The team has anchor players like Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, and Devdutt Padikkal, along with talented batsmen like Tim David, Philip Salt, Jitesh Sharma, and Jacob Bethell, who can help the team win the match no matter the situation.

The team has a lot of match-winning all-rounders like Krunal Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, and Romario Shepherd. Apart from them, Kanishk Chouhan, Satvik Deswal, Swapnil Singh, and Mangesh Yadav, like young all-rounders, are also in the squad.

RCB also has a strong bowling unit. Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Nuwan Thusara, Yash Dayal, and Jacob Duffy are key pacers, while Rasikh Salam Dar and Suyash Sharma are spinners. Krunal Pandya, who played a major role in RCB’s IPL 2025 title victory with the ball, wants to replicate that performance again. 
It will be fascinating to see how quickly RCB management can find the right winning combination, because the team has a lot of options. Josh Hazlewood’s injury is the only concern for RCB at the moment. He is set to miss the starting phase of the tournament due to injury. In this situation, either Jacob Duffy or Nuwan Tushara can lead the pace bowling attack. 

Royal Challengers Bengaluru is set to play their 5 home games in Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, while they will play the rest of their two home matches at Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium, Raipur. RCB will kick off their IPL 2026 campaign against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Chinnaswamy Stadium on March 28 in the tournament opener. 

Strongest RCB playing XI

Virat Kohli
Philip Salt (✈ )
Rajat Patidar ©
Devdutt Padikkal—Impact player
Jacob Bethell (✈ )
Venkatesh Iyer 
Krunal Pandya
Tim David/Jacob Duffy (✈)
Romario Shepherd (✈ )
Jitesh Sharma (wk)
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Suyash Sharma