The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) feature one of the most powerful and dangerous top-order batsmen in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Although the squad’s current opening pairing of Virat Kohli and Phil Salt was crucial to their IPL 2025 title victory, the team is not limited to that pairing.
The impact player rule’s implementation and the league’s subsequent scoring boom have only increased the significance of the powerplay with the bat. The openers are free to take advantage of the fielding constraints because of RCB’s strong depth and potent batting.
Virat Kohli has probably played some of his best IPL cricket in the last three seasons, primarily as an opener. Because of this, it is extremely unlikely that the star batsman will be moved from his favored position, where he has contributed a significant number of runs and a significant strike rate.
Therefore, changing Virat Kohli’s partners is the only way RCB can adjust the opening combination. They have the luxury of doing it if necessary because of the team’s extraordinary depth and extremely adaptable players.
In light of this, let’s examine the top three opening lineups that RCB may attempt in the 2026 Indian Premier League.
1. Virat Kohli – Phil Salt
The present opening formula of RCB had been miraculous to RCB. The retained Virat Kohli, who has a high profile signing, and one of the top T20 opening hitters, have fallen into place as anticipated. The fact that Phil Salt is able to strike an onslaught on the bowlers early on, the Virat Kohli has a tempo to play with immediately, a fact that makes him the best as a powerplay batter.
The two have complemented one another well, and this can be seen by the figures that they have generated in 2025. Their capacity to adjust to the circumstances swiftly, allocate strike to the preferable choice, and targeting match-ups are not a few of the motives that made them an instant strike, and enormous potential even in the future.
In 13 innings, Virat Kohli and Phil Salt accumulated 565 runs and had an average of 43.46. They could form a 50 plus alliance in nearly half of the games and their partnership was characterized by an overpowering 95 runs in their very first match as a duo in the IPL 2025 season opening against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
2. Virat Kohli- Devdutt Padikkal
Although Virat Kohli-Phil Salt combination is indeed the RCB Plan A as far as opening pairing is concerned, it is not without its weakness. The collaboration lacks a left-hand component, which places it to some extent at risk.
What is more important than that is the crippling figure of Phil Salt. England international was overall successful in the IPL 2025 season and remained successful later in the year too. But 2026 thus far has been a nightmare experience to the explosive opener.
His total of 177 runs in the past 10 innings is at an average of 17.70 and has an appalling T20 World Cup 2026. In this case, RCB may be unable to afford Salt a long run in the side should the same poor form continue and continue.
RCB possess a good backup strategy in Devdutt Padikkal. He does not simply check a few boxes when it comes to an aspect of being left-handed and possessing sublime form, but he has also been in the batting line with Virat Kohli previously. The addition of the southpaw instead of Salt also provides an overseas position that can be utilized by RCB to introduce Jacob Bethell to the fray at No.3 too.
Kohli and Padikkal were the key openers of the 2020 and 2021 season of RCB. The two had a total of 1399 runs in 31 innings, with three 100 runs and above stands.
3. Virat Kohli – Jacob Bethell
In case Phil Salt does not perform in the first position in the order, and RCB would like to retain Devdutt Padikkal in the No.3 position which he has played with so much success in the recent past in both the franchise and domestic teams, another more-or-less direct swap can be adopted.
RCB can afford to replace his international colleague with another foreign batter Jacob Bethell. The youngster who is developing is left-handed, and is in good shape and comes across as a natural fit though he generally does not open up this innings.
RCB had previously followed this same path when Phil Salt was unavailable due to a number of games in IPL 2025. Kohli and Bethell also batted first in the league stage games against the Delhi Capitals (DC) and the Chennai Super Kings (CSK). They wore a starting partnership of 20 and 97 in those games, which implies that there is a lot of potential in this very dynamic.
