The Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper, Rajat Patidar, had made his ambitions for the IPL 2026 season quite clear in the toss of Matchday 1. Last year, it was a dream run for the franchise as they had match-winners across departments, with a different player rising to the challenge each time. This time out, the Challengers are facing some injury concerns with Josh Hazlewood and Nuwan Thushara being unavailable for the first couple of games.

In the 2025 season of the IPL, the difference in the mindset of the team was very clear from the auction. The management picked a team that had depth in each department, and they had invested a decent amount in the foreign backup players as well.

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Phil Salt and Virat Kohli had plenty of power-packed opening partnerships that laid the foundation for most of the games. Devdutt Padikkal redeemed himself as he was a fine player for the side, walking in to bat at number 3. Even though Rajat Patidar wasn’t at his best in the latter half of the season, it was well backed by the brilliant form of Jithesh Sharma, Tim David and Krunal Pandya.

The bowling department was fiery from the beginning, with Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in good touch. The spin department was key to the success of the side as Suyash Sharma and Krunal Pandya were economical and picked wickets at crucial phases of the game.

If RCB are to repeat what they did in the previous season, their new additions will have to step up their game. The primary concern of the RCB squad would be the absence of Josh Hazlewood. He played a pivotal role in the bowling unit of the side as he could trouble the batters with the new ball, and he was highly rated for his death bowling. They will be hopeful that Jacob Duffy can perform well and fill the shoes of Hazlewood.

Nonetheless, RCB’s batting unit is arguably one of the best in the league, and they will be hopeful that they have what it takes to add another star to their jersey at the end of the season.