IPL 2025 Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) Best Playing 11
Virat Kohli expected to lead the team in our best possible playing 11 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for IPL 2025.
‘Ee sala Cup Namde’ isn’t just a phrase, it’s an emotion. It’s an emotion that every RCB fan has been living with. It’s been 17 years, but an RCB fan is still living his/her life in the hope that one day, their favourite team will finally win the much-coveted IPL Trophy. They have supported their team wholeheartedly for 17 years, and will once again do it in the latest edition of the Indian Premier League.
The 2025 edition of the Indian Premier League will see Royal Challengers Bengaluru with a strong squad on paper. The team hasn’t announced a Captain as yet given Faf du Plessis isn’t with the team anymore. However, as per the latest developments, it seems Virat Kohli will be named as the Captain of the squad. If not Virat Kohli, RCB will look at Bhuvneshwar Kumar or Phil Salt to lead the team.
The RCB team took a refreshed approach in 2024, and barring 3-4 players, the team has a completely new squad to play for. The team even let go of their old foes like Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Siraj, Will Jacks, etc. So, assuming Virat Kohli as the Captain of RCB, let’s analyze the new squad list of the team, and find out the best possible playing 11 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for IPL 2025.
IPL 2025 Official Squad and Players List for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)
Batters: Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar, Swastik Chikara, Tim David (o) & Virat Kohli
WKs: Jitesh Sharma & Phil Salt (o)
All-rounders: Jacob Bethell (o), Krunal Pandya, Liam Livingstone, Manoj Bhandage, Mohit Rathee, Romario Shephard (o) & Swapnil Singh
Bowlers: Abhinandan Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood (o), Lungi Ngidi (o), Nuwan Thushara (o), Rasikh Dar, Suyash Sharma & Yash Dayal
IPL 2025 RCB Best Predicted Playing 11
Openers
Starting with the openers, the RCB team will see a new opening pair in the form of Virat Kohli and Phil Salt. RCB are continuing the tradition of opening with Indian and Overseas opening pairs. The team had seen the Gayle-Kohli and Du Plessis-Kohli combination in the past, and will now see the Salt-Kohli opening combination. Needless to say, this is one the best opening combinations in IPL 2025.
Middle-order
Coming to the middle-order, RCB will have a solid and experienced pool of players in the lineup. While Rajat Patidar should play at number 3, Liam Livingstone and Tim David should complete the rest of the middle-order. Once again, the top 5 looks solid for RCB, and the team is batting-heavy as always. Having said that, it will be interesting to see how Livingstone and Tim David perform given their performance has been below par in the Indian Premier League.
Finishers
Talking about finishers, we are looking at Jitesh Sharma and Krunal Pandya as the two solid options. Both Jitesh and Krunal are experienced players, and Jitesh will basically be a like-for-like replacement for Dinesh Karthik, who has been a terrific finisher for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Meanwhile, Krunal Pandya has been a solid number 7 batter himself, and will be hoping to continue his form for RCB. Krunal also adds a solid bowling option for the team, which will be much needed in the current setup.
Bowling Line-up
Finally, coming to the bowling department, RCB will rely on Josh Hazlewood as the leading Overseas pacer, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar as the leading Indian pacer. With these two bringing experience, the rest of the bowling is slightly inexperienced with the likes of Yash Dayal, Rasikh Dar, and Suyash Sharma. It’s the same old problem for RCB with star batters in focus, and bowlers having less firepower. So, it will be interesting to see how RCB go about their bowling.
So, that’s about the best possible playing 11 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru for IPL 2025. Overall, the team’s batting looks better than what they had in 2024. Most batters are attacking options, and consistency will play an important role for them. However, more than the batting, RCB’s bowling will be in focus, which again lacks the firepower needed to win a tournament. While 12 overs seem sorted, the last 8 overs between Yash, Suyash, and Rasikh can be the game-changer.
IPL 2025 Best Predicted Playing 11 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)
- Virat Kohli (c)
- Phil Salt (o)
- Rajat Patidar
- Liam Livingstone (o)
- Tim David (o)
- Jitesh Sharma
- Krunal Pandya
- Rasikh Dar
- Bhuvneshwar Kumar
- Josh Hazlewood (o)
- Yash Dayal
- Suyash Sharma (Impact Player)
IPL 2025 Alternate Best Playing 11 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)
Talking about alternate best playing 11 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru for IPL 2025, we can look at RCB strengthning their bowling by playing Nuwan Thusara for Rasikh Dar. In this scenario, RCB will leave out Tim David, and instead play Devdutt Padikkal or Virat Kohli at 3, and Rajat Patidar at 4, Liam Livingstone at 5. This isn’t too bad lineup as it balances the batting, and improves bowling for RCB.
Thanks for reading! What’s your best playing 11 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for IPL 2025? Please email your thoughts to business@cricalytics.com.
Adesh Kothari is the founder of AK4Tsay1 Cricalytics with over 20 years of experience following Cricket.
Cricket to him is like what Football is to Lionel Messi, Singing is to Lata Mangeshkar, Dancing is to Michael Jackson, and Acting is to Clint Eastwood.
Besides his effervescent love for Cricket, Adesh is an MBA by qualification.
