Former RCB captain Virat Kohli fails to find a place in IPL 2026’s ‘Best Playing 12’ ahead of Qualifier 1 match vs GT on Tuesday.
Updated: May 26, 2026 12:45 PM IST
RCB vs GT IPL 2026: Former India captain Virat Kohli is a veteran of 281 matches in Indian Premier League with over 9200 runs in the tournament. He is getting ready to play in his 18th Playoff match in his IPL career so far on Tuesday but a former Chennai Super Kings cricketers hasn’t even included him in ‘best Playing 12’ of this season after the league stages.
Kohli has already notched up 557 runs in 14 matches in IPL 2026 with 1 hundred and 4 fifties at a strike-rate of 163.82. But he has failed to find a spot in the ‘best playing 12’ selected by former India and CSK batter Subramanium Badrinath ahead of the IPL 2026 Qualifier 1 between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Gujarat Titans on Tuesday.
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Instead, Badrinath has picked 15-year-old Rajasthan Royals opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in his side. Sooryavanshi has the highest strike-rate among the top batters – 232.2 – while scoring 583 runs in 14 matches with 1 century and 3 fifties to his name.
The former Tamil Nadu batter has picked the GT opening batters Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan alongside Sooryavanshi. Sudharsan is currently the Orange Cap holder with 638 runs in 14 matches at a strike-rate of 157.92 with 1 century and 7 fifties while Shubman Gill is second on the run-scoring charts with 616 runs in 13 matches with 6 fifties at a strike-rate of 161.67.
They are followed by Heinrich Klaasen from Sunrisers Hyderabad and RCB captain Rajat Patidar. Klaasen is the third-highest run-scorer in IPL 2026 season so far with 606 runs in 14 matches with 6 fifties at a strike-rate of 159.47 while Patidar has scored 393 runs at a strike-rate of 183.64 with 4 fifties.
Krunal Pandya and Sunil Narine picked as all-rounders
Badrinath has chosen RCB’s Krunal Pandya and KKR star Sunil Narine as the two spin-bowling all-rounders in his side. Krunal has scored 182 runs with the bat and also claimed 11 wickets with the ball.
Narine, on the other hand, ended the IPL 2026 season with 15 wickets in 13 matches at an average of 22.6.
Not surprisingly, Badrinath has picked the three leading wicket-takers in the season – Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kagiso Rabada and Jofra Archer in his side. RCB’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar and GT’s Rabada have both claimed 24 wickets in 14 matches so far, while Archer is trailing in third with 21 scalps in 14 matches.
The only position left in doubt is a toss up between Lucknow Super Giants pacer Prince Yadav and KKR’s Kartik Tyagi. Prince had a breakthrough season with 16 wickets in 14 matches while Tyagi ended up with 18 wickets in 14 games.
Badrinath has picked CSK left-arm spinner Akeal Hossain as the ‘Impact Sub’. Akeal, who was signed up for Rs 2 crore by CSK at IPL 2026 mini auction, claimed 8 wickets in 7 matches this year.
Subraminiam Badrinath’s ‘Best Playing 12’
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Heinrich Klaasen, Rajat Patidar, Krunal Pandya, Sunil Narine, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jofra Archer, Kagiso Rabada, Prince Yadav/Kartik Tyagi
Impact Sub: Akeal Hosein
