Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batting coach Dinesh Karthik picked his all-time 11 for the storied franchise on Friday (March 13) ahead of the IPL 226 season. The team had several surprises, as it was
tilted towards current players over the big legendary names from the past, apparently as a reward for the first title win in 2025.
The top three were easy, as all were part of the highest scorers for the franchise in the IPL. He chose Chris Gayle and Faf du Plessis as the openers, pushing Virat Kohli down to number three. At number five was another RCB legend, AB de Villiers, who, just like in his time in Bengaluru, made the spine of this 11.
Rajat Patidar, who has spent only four years at the team, not only made it to the 11 but was also awarded captaincy over Kohli.
“He’s the most successful captain, let’s start there, but as a batter, the impact he’s given in the short time that he’s played for RCB, [has been] quite phenomenal and [he is] such a key player for RCB. In fact, I’ll go a step ahead and say that he would be my captain. Virat Kohli obviously has led it for so many seasons and [has been] successful too, but I’d still say just the fact that he won Rajat Patidar, [would be] the captain,” Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
He picked Jitesh Sharma, who has just one season at RCB under his belt, as the number six for ‘impact he’s created as a leader and as a batter’, followed by all-rounder Krunal Pandya for the same reason.
“If RCB has the trophy today, you have to say, it is largely due to how well he bowled in that final, but also the man of the match that he got against CSK, and he played such a pivotal role last year. Not too many left-arm spinners have been as successful through RCB for the year,” Karthik said of Krunal.
Harshal Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal got in as bowlers because of their all-time records. Josh Hazlewood got in as the number 11 for his IPL 2025 success while Karthik chose Mohammed Siraj to partner the Australian over the likes of Vinay Kumar and S Aravind ‘purely for the volume of wickets he got’.
Dinesh Karthik’s all-time RCB 11: Chris Gayle, Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar (c), AB de Villiers, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Krunal Pandya, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal, Josh Hazlewood.
