Former Indian cricketer Suresh Raina as reckoned that Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) will pick Devdutt Padikkal as their number 3 batter over Venkatesh Iyer. Padiikkal faced an injury at the early stages of IPL 2025 which forced him to be replaced by Mayank Agarwal. Meanwhile, former KKR star Iyer was bought by the defending champions for Rs 7 crore.

Will RCB pick DDP or Venkatesh Iyer for IPL 2026?

Speaking on Star Sports, Raina reckoned that RCB may be tempted to play Padikkal at number three instead of Iyer.

“I think RCB will play Padikkal at No.3. Virat Kohli and Phil Salt will open, then there is Jitesh Sharma at No.4. If captain Rajat Patidar says that I can play at No.5, then it can happen. They can go for a left-hand-right-hand combination as well, they already have a left-hander at No.3,” Suresh Raina said.

The former CSK batter claimed that the surface at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru will suit Venkatesh more.

“I think the pitches in Bengaluru will suit Venkatesh Iyer more, he is a quality player. He likes to play higher up the order, he can score in all areas of the ground. I think they can play him for the left-hand-right-hand combination, especially since they have a finisher like Jitesh Sharma below,” Raina added.

KKR released the Madhya Pradesh all-rounder ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction, only to buy him back for a whooping Rs 23.75 crore. What followed was disaster. Iyer, who had been very consistent for the side until IPL 2024, registered his worst-ever season in 2025. He managed to score just 142 runs from 11 matches at a miserable average of 20.29. 

RCB squad for IPL 2026

Virat Kohli, Phil Salt (wk)✈️, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Tim David✈️, Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd✈️, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yash Dayal, Josh Hazlewood✈️, Suyash Sharma, Abhinandan Singh, Jacob Bethell✈️, Nuwan Thushara✈️, Rasikh Dar, Swapnil Singh, Venkatesh Iyer, Jacob Duffy✈️, Satvik Deswal, Mangesh Yadav, Jordon Cox (wk)✈️, Kanishk Chouhan, Vihaan Malhotra, Vicky Ostwal