IPL 2025 Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) New Best Playing 11

Rajat Patidar, the new leader in our best possible playing 11 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. 

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru team in their official announcement finally revealed the Captain of the side for IPL 2025. With much expectations, and a move from their traditional superstar approach, the RCB team announced Rajat Patidar as the Captain of the side for IPL 2025. Rajat has been with the team for a few years now, and has accomplished himself both in IPL, and Domestic stage. 

With Rajat as the new Captain, RCB will be once again making a fresh start to get their hands on the maiden IPL trophy. It’s been 17 years and counting, but RCB not once have been able to win the trophy. The team highlighted 9 Playoffs appearances as their achievement, but honestly they are embarrassing themselves by saying that. Even a Runner-up appearance isn’t an achievement, forget Playoffs qualification.

But does RCB have the squad that can finally bring them glory? Well, RCB took a refresh approach for IPL 2025, and didn’t retain any Overseas players. All their 8 Overseas players weren’t a part of IPL 2024, and this shows their clear strategy in bringing fresh minds to the table. So, with the official names in front of us, let’s look at the analysis of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru Squad 2025, and their best playing 11 for IPL. 

IPL 2025 Official Squad and Players List for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)

Batters: Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar, Swastik Chikara, Tim David (o) & Virat Kohli

Wicket-keepers: Jitesh Sharma & Phil Salt (o)

All-rounders: Jacob Bethell (o), Krunal Pandya, Liam Livingstone (o), 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

Royal Challengers Bengaluru this time for IPL 2025 have not only focused on strengthening their batting, but also their bowling. In the process via Auction, the team added many quality batters in the side, and with a horses-for-course approach, they added many quality fast bowlers in their side. Among the star players present in the side, they have the likes of Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Rajat Patidar, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, etc.

It is undoubtedly a star-studded side that can surely challenge the challengers. However, if there is one area where the RCB could have done better is the spin department. The team currently has Krunal Pandya as their leading spinner, and he will be supported mostly by Suyash Sharma. This isn’t good if the team plays more on spin-friendly wickets. That means there will be 3-4 matches out of 14 where they might face this challenge. Otherwise, they look good to win at least 7 matches in the competition.  

IPL 2025 Best Playing 11 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)

Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Liam Livingstone, Tim David, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Krunal Pandya, Rasikh Dar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal & Suyash Sharma (Impact Player)

Now, if we talk about the best playing 11 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, we are looking at two solid openers Phil Salt and Virat Kohli. While Salt is fire, Kohli is ice, and this opening combination is honestly one of the best in the competition. With a solid top 2, Captain Rajat Patidar should play at 3, and Liam Livingstone and Tim David at 4 and 5 respectively. With a solid top 5, Jitesh Sharma and Krunal Pandya give a fantastic finishing skillset to the team, thus making this batting lineup a dangerous one.

In terms of bowling, RCB have three solid pacers in the form of Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Yash Dayal. Whereas in terms of spinners, RCB have Krunal Pandya with Suyash Sharma. Overall, this is a good bowling lineup – especially for matches at home. In case Josh Hazlewood doesn’t get fit, they can look at Nuwan Thushara or Romario Shephard as the potential options to play. 

So, that’s about the best playing 11 and complete squad analysis for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for IPL 2025. Overall, RCB have a well-balanced team with batting and pace bowling being their strength. The team looks ideal for matches at home, but the form of players like Tim David, Liam Livingstone, and Jitesh Sharma will be crucial. However, spin pitches is where they might face issues, and they will have to play their heart out on those pitches. 

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