No Phil Salt, Virat Kohli to open with new partner, Venkatesh Iyer finds place in ex-India star's RCB XI for IPL 2026

by · Inside Sport India

Ahead of the start of IPL 2026, Jaffer has decided to drop Phil Salt from the playing XI and has picked a new opening partner for Virat Kohli.

Former Indian cricketer Wasim Jaffer has revealed his playing XI for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in IPL 2026 and has made some bold calls. The IPL 2025 champions are easily one of the best and well-balanced sides in the tournament and will be looking to replicate their feat from the previous season. Ahead of the start of IPL 2026, Jaffer has decided to drop Phil Salt from the playing XI and has picked a new opening partner for Virat Kohli.

Jaffer’s RCB playing XI for IPL 2026

In a video shared on social media platform X, Jaffer has decided to use Jacob Bethell as RCB’s new opener for IPL 2026, alongside Virat Kohli. The England all-rounder enjoyed more success than Salt in the recently concluded T20 World Cup, and is possibly why the ex-India star has picked him over the latter in his playing XI. Kohli and Salt were an explosive opening combo in the previous season and scored majority runs for RCB. It will be interesting to see if the team will prefer Bethell over Salt.

At number 3 is RCB captain Rajat Patidar. RCB’s Rs 7 crore buy Venkatesh Iyer has been slotted at number 4 while Devdutt Padikkal has surprisingly been left out of the line-up despite his incredible numbers in white-ball domestic cricket.

At five, Jaffer has named Tim David following which Jitesh Sharma has been picked the the wicketkeeper and finisher. Romario Shepherd and Krunal Pandya comprise of the all-rounders. With Josh Hazlewood set to miss the first few matches of IPL 2026, Jaffer has named Nuwan Thushara, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal as the pacers in his line-up. Suyash Sharma has been picked in Jaffer’s XI as the impact player.

  1. Jacob Bethell
  2. Virat Kohli
  3. Rajat Patidar
  4. Venkatesh Iyer
  5. Tim David
  6. Jitesh Sharma
  7. Romario Shepherd
  8. Krunal Pandya
  9. Nuwan Thushara
  10. Bhuvneshwar Kumar
  11. Yash Dayal
  12. Suyash Sharma (Impact player)