New Delhi, March 27 (IANS) Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has picked his strongest playing XI of the defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) ahead of their opening match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), which is set to be played at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday.

RCB has not made significant changes to their squad ahead of the new season, but the additions of Venkatesh Iyer, Jacob Duffy, and Jacob Bethell, along with Devdutt Padikkal looking in great touch, have created a dilemma for the team management when selecting their playing XI.

In a video shared on X, Chopra tried to solve the three difficult questions ahead of the team management while selecting the best-suited team for the season.

He believes that the first big problem ahead of the RCB is who to select between Padikkal and Iyer at number 3. According to him, despite Iyer providing a bowling option, RCB should go with Padikkal, who is in great touch.

Chopra has excluded T20 World Cup 2026 centurion Bethell from his team as he has gone with Phil Salt, Tim David, and Romario Shepherd as overseas batters and all-rounders. According to him, RCB will need to play an overseas fast bowler, and the defending champions should go with New Zealand pacer Duffy, who had a decent World Cup campaign for the role. He has also left out Josh Hazlewood, who arrived on Friday in Bengaluru after recovering from injury.

RCB dealt with a big blow ahead of IPL 2026 as their prime bowler, Yash Dayal, has been ruled out of the whole tournament due to personal reasons. As per Chopra, either debutant Mangesh Yadav or Rasikh Salam could take his place in the playing XI.

Aakash Chopra’s playing XI:

Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Rajat Patidar (c), Devdutt Padikkal, Tim David, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Duffy, Mangesh Yadav/Rasikh Salam.

–IANS

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