Royal Challengers Bengaluru, the defending IPL champions, added three capped and five uncapped players to their roster ahead of the next season. Aiming to defend their crown, the Rajat Patidar-led side added all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer to their roster for Rs 7 crore, and he was also their costliest purchase at the mini-auction. Besides Iyer, they also spent on Mangesh Yadav, Jacob Duffy, Jordan Cox, Kanishk Chouhan, Vihaan Malhotra, Vicky Ostwal, and Satvik Deswal.
RCB retained 17 players and entered the auction with a budget of Rs 16.40 crore.
As defending champions, RCB appeared pretty clear in the players they wanted for their title defence next year. Of the 10 bids they placed during the event, RCB managed to win eight.
Last year, RCB appeared
to break the bank for Iyer when they found themselves locked in an intense bidding war with Kolkata Knight Riders for the all-rounder. With KKR outbidding them then, this time, RCB managed to secure his signature.
RCB also splashed a major part of their budget on the unheralded Mangesh. The Madhya Pradesh-born 23-year-old recently made his professional debut in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy. He picked 1/47 on debut vs Jharkhand and followed that with 28 runs with the bat and 2/38 with the ball against Punjab.
Here’s our pick for RCB’s best eleven, which largely features the same players from last season.
RCB Best Playing XI For IPL 2026
Philip Salt, Virat Kohli, Venkatesh Iyer, Rajat Patidar (captain), Tim David, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yash Dayal, Josh Hazlewood
RCB Full Squad For IPL 2026
Rajat Patidar (Captain), Virat Kohli, Venkatesh Iyer, Jitesh Sharma, Tim David, Josh Hazlewood, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Devdutt Padikkal, Jacob Bethell, Nuwan Thushara, Phil Salt, Rasikh Dar, Romario Shepherd, Suyash Sharma, Swapnil Singh, Yash Dayal, Jacob Duffy, Mangesh Yadav, Satwik Deswal, Jordan Cox, Vihaan Malhotra, Kanishk Chouhan, Abhinandan Singh
