Virat Kohli, the former captain of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), was the one who selected the all-time playing XI of the franchise in anticipation of the much anticipated IPL 2026 season. The 2025 edition is the first in 17 years in which RCB will be defending their maiden title.
Kohli made a joke of selecting a former RCB spinner Yuzvendra Chahal at No.11 with emphasis on his batting skills. The current franchise leader in wicket is Chahal who has 139 wickets in 113 games.
This is a video that was posted by the RCB X handle and the player who is at position 11 was Chahal (1:00):
Virat Kohli who came to the top, chose the two as the openers, Kohli and Chris Gayle and then AB de Villiers at No.3. Although the former has been the all-time leading run-scorer in RCB with 9,085 runs, De Villiers and Gayle come in second and third place with 4,522 and 3,420 runs respectively.
Kohli took right-hand veteran KL Rahul at No.4 and the current skipper Rajat Patidar at 5. Rahul had 19 matches with RCB but had a terrific average of 37.90.
In the meantime, Patidar has guided RCB to the only IPL title of their existence last year and achieved more than 1,100 runs in 42 matches in the franchise.
Kohli chose wicketkeeper batter Dinesh Karthik at No.6 and all-round bowling Harshal Patel at No.7. Karthik has an amazing strike rate of nearly 163 in 60 matches to RCB.
Harshal on the other hand is a second all time leading wicket taker in the franchise with 99 in 80 games.
Virat Kohli picks two overseas pacers to round off his RCB 11
The team Anil Kumble is picked at No.8 by Virat Kohli who is the former RCB and Team India captain. Kumble is also among the six bowlers to collect 50 wickets in franchise and took them to the first final in 2009.
Kohli then selected the two spinners of Mitchell Starc and Dale Steyn to finish his RCB 11 with Chahal already at the pitch. Starc represented the franchise in two seasons (2014 and 2015) but has impressive big numbers, having acquired 34 wickets in an average of 20.38 and economy of 7.16.
Steyn on the other hand played with RCB in several stints where he accumulated 38 wickets in 40 appearances with the franchise.
Virat Kohli’s all-time RCB playing XI
Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, KL Rahul, Rajat Patidar, Dinesh Karthik, Harshal Patel, Anil Kumble, Mitchell Starc, Dale Steyn, Yuzvendra Chahal
