KL Rahul, a potent leader of choice in our dream squad and playing 11 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for IPL 2025.
83 Cr. Yes, that’s the amount Royal Challengers Bengaluru will be entering the IPL 2025 Mega Auction to take heads-on with the other teams. Having retained only three players, RCB have left the RTM option completely open, which they may or may not use. But this is a golden opportunity for RCB, who by not retaining all the players have given themselves a shot at getting a lot of quality players in the Auction.
If we look at the availability or supply of players in the Auction, it is actually pretty good. With supply being more, and demand being less, if any team is smart enough, they shouldn’t run after the players by bidding aggressively on them. Instead, a smart team knows that if they don’t spend heavily on a few players, there is so much quality available in the market that they don’t have to spend big on a few players.
More so, Royal Challengers Bengaluru should first look to get quality 13-14 players in this side with a solid playing 11. By doing this, RCB will look for a settled playing 11, and will not chop and change much throughout the tournament. But which players will RCB target, or should look to target in the IPL 2025 Mega Auction? Well, let’s look at the IPL 2025 dream playing 11 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).
IPL 2025 Official Retained Players List for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)
Virat Kohli (21 Cr), Rajat Patidar (11 Cr) & Yash Dayal (5 Cr)
Total Players Retained: 3 // Purse Left: 83 Cr // RTM Options Available: 3
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru team retained only three players ahead of the IPL 2025 Mega Auction. While Virat Kohli was retained for a record 21 Cr, Rajat Patidar was retained for 11 Cr, and Yash Dayal was retained for 5 Cr as an uncapped player. This is the first time since 2011 when RCB retained all Indian players. In 2011, RCB had retained only Virat Kohli, and in 2024, RCB retained all Indian players including their longest-serving player, Virat Kohli.
The RCB team now has three RTM options available, and they do have quality players from their existing squad that they can target. While Cameron Green isn’t available for the Auction, they can potentially target three from Glenn Maxwell, Will Jacks, Mohammed Siraj, and Faf du Plessis. Now, Faf may not be a wise buy at this stage given his age, RCB can certainly look to RTM the other three players, and for that, they will have to shell out roughly 30-35 Cr.
So, if RCB get Maxwell, Jacks, and Siraj from the Auction, they already have a solid six players in the squad, and potentially 50 Cr still left to buy the more quality players to complete their dream playing 11. As of six players, RCB have 4 of their top 5 solid batters, and two superb pacers in their squad. With a top 6 players as worked above, the RCB team still have space for 2 more Overseas players in their dream playing 11.
Batters & Wicket-keepers
Now, Since RCB may not go after Faf du Plessis, they would still need a wicket-keeper, and a leader. It looks unlikely Virat Kohli will continue as the captain of the squad. So, an ideal bet would be a player like KL Rahul, Jos Buttler, Ishan Kishan, or Phil Salt. All four are Captain materials, and also are experienced in this format. Of the four players, KL Rahul will be RCB’s top priority.
KL rahul, as we know is a former RCB player, and also an established name in the Indian Premier League. KL Rahul’s current team, Lucknow Super Giants will mostly not use RTM cards on him. So, aside from Punjab Kings, who may go aggressive after KL Rahul, RCB will be the other team that will actually be in contention to sign KL Rahul. If at all RCB are lucky enough to get KL Rahul, they will have to spend somewhere around 20-22 Cr to get him.
Ideal Finisher and Pacer
Now, with the addition of KL Rahul, RCB’s top 5 seems set, and also strong. They will then have around 30 Cr in the kitty, and they still need two more quality Overseas players that will be a part of their playing 11. Among the finishers available in the Auction, RCB can go after Marcus Stoinis and Josh Hazlewood among the pacers. To fetch these two, RCB will have to spend somewhere around 15-16 Cr. It won’t be a bad call either as both are proven players in the RCB camp.
Now, RCB already have 9 solid players in their playing 11, and all they need is a quality spinner. They still have around 15 Cr available, and if they spend around 8 Cr to get Chahal, they have a chance to build a solid playing 11, and then focus on getting the backups to complete a squad of 18. So, having Chahal as the spinner, and Mohipal Lomror, and Suyash Prabhudessai as the other two players in the lineup, RCB will actually be able to build a dream and slightly realistic playing 11.
IPL 2025 Dream Playing 11 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)
- Virat Kohli
- KL Rahul (c&wk)
- Will Jacks
- Rajat Patidar
- Glenn Maxwell
- Marcus Stoinis
- Mahipal Lomror
- Josh Hazlewood
- Mohammed Siraj
- Yash Dayal
- Yuzvendra Chahal
- Suyash Prabhudessai (Impact Sub)
So, that’s about the dream playing 11 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for IPL 2025. Overall, this looks like a solid XI, but practically, it will be difficult to get all of them together in the playing 11 considering the cost restriction. An ideal case would be where RCB would mist out of two quality Indian or overseas players, and in their place, they would play an emerging young talent.
Thanks for reading! What’s your strongest playing 11 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for IPL 2025? Please email your thoughts to firstname.lastname@example.org
Adesh Kothari is the founder of AK4Tsay1 Cricalytics with over 20 years of experience following Cricket.
Cricket to him is like what Football is to Lionel Messi, Singing is to Lata Mangeshkar, Dancing is to Michael Jackson, and Acting is to Clint Eastwood.
Besides his effervescent love for Cricket, Adesh is an MBA by qualification.