Royal Challengers Bengaluru won the 2025 season of the Indian Premier League and are currently the defending champions. They have a star-studded batting line up and often Royal Challengers Bengaluru have been associated with the best batting line up tag over the years. Despite winning the previous edition, Royal Challengers Bengaluru will be in a dilemma regarding going with a star batting lineup or sacrifice some for the team balance. So just a few weeks ahead of the IPL it is time to look at which way RCB might possibly go as they aim to win back-to-back titles.
Phil Salt vs Jacob Bethell or Both
Phil Salt was one of the top performers for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the previous season and he was terrific at the top of the order along with Virat Kohli. Meanwhile, Jacob Bethell is another talented batter who showed his class in the recent 2026 WT20 where he smashed a century against India. He was benched for most of the games last season but with his stocks rising in the international circuit it could be time for RCB to fit him in the XI. In case RCB decide to go with both overseas batters then they have to sacrifice an overseas pacer. It will make their batting stronger but will mess up with the team balance.
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Romario Shepherd vs Other overseas pacers
Shepherd was excellent for RCB with the bat last season lower down the order and did bowl a few good spells. But as seen recently with the West Indies team, Shepherd is predominantly a batting all-rounder who can bowl a few overs. RCB can strengthen their lower order batting with the addition of Shepherd but it will leave them a bit thin when it comes to their bowling. Another option they have is to play a proper overseas pacer along with Hazlewood and get the team more balanced.
These are a few areas where defending champions Bengaluru will need to make a choice whether they want to have the star-studded batting lineup or sacrifice a few big names and have a more balanced team. This is a big decision and could go either way and also be a deciding factor come the end of the season.
