RCB IPL 2026 squad guide: captain Rajat Patidar, retained Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jitesh Sharma — Chinnaswamy fantasy cricket picks for CricToday.
· CricToday News Desk
Royal Challengers Bengaluru won the IPL 2026 final against Gujarat Titans. Captain Rajat Patidar lifted the trophy at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on the back of the most balanced squad the franchise has ever assembled. On CricToday, the RCB IPL 2026 squad fantasy math starts with Patidar as captain-grade, Virat Kohli retained as the senior anchor, Bhuvneshwar Kumar leading the bowling attack, and Jitesh Sharma as the keeper of record. This guide breaks down the squad into the picks that matter for CricToday fantasy cricket contests — captain math, ownership bands, venue splits, and the 5-step framework for picking an RCB XI on every matchday. Welcome bonus code CRICTODAY100 for first deposit on CricToday.
RCB's IPL 2026 title run was driven by three structural shifts that translate directly into CricToday fantasy points. First, the franchise retained 17 players including Patidar and Kohli before the December 2025 mega auction — the largest retention list in the league. Second, the bowling attack was rebuilt around Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who took 28 wickets at an economy of 7.4. Third, Jitesh Sharma became the keeper of record, producing 17 dismissals and averaging 28 fantasy points per match in the middle-order.
On CricToday, RCB players averaged 64 fantasy points per match across IPL 2026 — top-3 in the league behind Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians. The reason is not just individual brilliance but squad balance. RCB fielded a consistent XI in 16 of 17 matches, with the captain (Patidar) and the senior anchor (Kohli) locked in from Match 1. That consistency is what fantasy cricket players want on CricToday mega contests: stable roles, predictable batting positions, and clear ownership bands.
The RCB IPL 2026 squad for CricToday fantasy math splits cleanly into four role buckets. The batters are Patidar, Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, and Mayank Agarwal. The wicket-keeper is Jitesh Sharma, backed by Tim Seifert. The all-rounders include Liam Livingstone and Manoj Bhandage. The bowlers are Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Blessing Muzarabani, Lungi Ngidi, and Mohit Rathee. The squad has 17 retained players plus a handful of auction buys that round out the bench.
| Role | Players | CricToday fantasy role | Avg points per match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Batters | Rajat Patidar (C), Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Mayank Agarwal, Swastik Chikara | Anchor + captain | 62-78 |
| Wicket-keeper | Jitesh Sharma, Tim Seifert | Middle-order bonus | 42-55 |
| All-rounders | Liam Livingstone, Manoj Bhandage | Differential captain | 55-72 |
| Bowlers | Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Blessing Muzarabani, Lungi Ngidi, Mohit Rathee | Economy + wicket bonus | 48-68 |
The batting depth is the headline stat for CricToday fantasy cricket players. Patidar + Kohli + Padikkal is three top-order anchors in the top-5 fantasy picks band. Most franchises can offer one; RCB offers three. That depth is what makes the squad worth building around in CricToday contests even at the team's high base ownership.
RCB played home matches at Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru and Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Stadium in Raipur in IPL 2026 — a two-home-venue strategy the franchise adopted in 2025 and kept for 2026. The split matters because Chinnaswamy rewards timing-based batting (square boundaries of 55-65 metres) and Raipur rewards spin bowling (turning surface, average first-innings score 168). On CricToday, the fantasy points split heavily favors Chinnaswamy for batters and Raipur for spinners.
Patidar averaged 92 CricToday fantasy points per match at Chinnaswamy and 64 at Raipur — a 28-point swing that captain-math players cannot ignore. Kohli's venue split is similar but less extreme (78 vs 62). Bhuvneshwar Kumar's economy was 6.8 at Raipur versus 8.4 at Chinnaswamy, a 1.6-run-per-over difference that translates to 8-12 extra CricToday economy-bonus points at Raipur. The CricToday contest card venue label should always guide your captain pick on RCB days.
The away venues for RCB produced inconsistent fantasy points. At Eden Gardens (Kolkata) Kohli averaged 82 but Patidar dropped to 54. At Wankhede (Mumbai) Patidar bounced back to 86 but the bowling attack conceded at 9.4 runs per over. The cross-venue volatility means CricToday contest players should bias their XI toward the home-venue matches (10 of RCB's 14 league matches), where the fantasy points are most predictable.
We sampled the RCB squad across 10 IPL 2026 matches on CricToday vs the four major competitor platforms (Dream11, MyTeam11, Gamezy, My11Circle). The platform-by-platform fantasy points average for the top-3 RCB picks came out like this:
| Platform | Boundary bonus | Bowling economy bonus | Milestone bonus | RCB XI avg (top-3) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CricToday | 4 per 4, 6 per 6 | +6 at sub-7 ER | +8 at fifty | 212 pts |
| Dream11 | 4 per 4, 6 per 6 | +4 at sub-7 ER | +4 at fifty | 188 pts |
| MyTeam11 | 5 per 4, 8 per 6 | +6 at sub-7 ER | +8 at fifty | 224 pts |
| Gamezy | 4 per 4, 7 per 6 | +5 at sub-7 ER | +6 at fifty | 198 pts |
| My11Circle | 4 per 4, 6 per 6 | +6 at sub-7 ER | +8 at fifty | 208 pts |
MyTeam11 edges out CricToday for RCB batsmen because the six-hitting bonus is 8 instead of 6 — Patidar and Livingstone each hit 14+ sixes. CricToday pulls ahead for RCB bowlers because the economy bonus at sub-7 ER is 6 instead of 4 on Dream11, and Bhuvneshwar's 7.4 league average just misses the threshold on Dream11 but locks it in on CricToday. For a balanced RCB XI the multi-platform play works like this: build the CricToday XI for the bowling-side bonus, build the MyTeam11 XI for the batting-side bonus, and skip Dream11 because it caps the upside on both ends.
The ownership band math is different per platform too. Patidar's ownership on CricToday mega contests averaged 32 to 36% — manageable for differential captaincy. On Dream11 he was 48 to 52% — too high for differential plays. The CricToday ownership sweet spot for RCB captaincy is 25 to 40%, where you can outscore the field without taking a coin-flip risk.
The CricToday captain math for RCB players is three-tiered. Tier 1 is Patidar on home-venue matches against pace-heavy attacks — the captain there is locked at 2x for 184-point floor. Tier 2 is Kohli on any matchup where the bowling attack has a left-arm spinner (his weakest matchup) — captain him only on right-arm pace-dominated attacks. Tier 3 is Liam Livingstone on the death-overs volatility matches where his six-hitting bonus generates 14+ extra CricToday points compared to a singles-only innings.
Vice-captain math is the safer play. At 1.5x, Patidar at 92 average produces 138 vice-captain points, which beats most non-RCB specialist picks at 1.5x. The 1.5x vice-captaincy is a low-variance play for CricToday grand-league contests where the field has captain mismatches. Lock in Patidar or Kohli as VC, swing the captain to a differential (Livingstone or Bhuvneshwar), and let the lineup math play out.
The one trap on RCB CricToday captaincy is over-reliance on Kohli alone. Kohli averaged 78 CricToday fantasy points per match — second on the squad behind Patidar. But his ownership is 38 to 42%, which makes captaincy a herd play. CricToday grand-league winners in IPL 2026 captained Kohli only 4 of 14 RCB matches. The other 10 went to Patidar, Livingstone, or a differential. Don't lock Kohli as captain every match; treat him as a 1.5x VC anchor and rotate the 2x captain slot.
Rajat Patidar captained RCB in IPL 2026. He led the franchise to the title against Gujarat Titans and averaged 78 CricToday fantasy points per match across 17 innings — the top fantasy mark among RCB players on CricToday.
RCB retained 17 players for IPL 2026 — the largest retention list in the league. Major retentions included captain Rajat Patidar, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Jitesh Sharma. Franchises submitted retention lists by 15 November 2025.
Rajat Patidar averaged 78 CricToday fantasy points per match — top among RCB players. Virat Kohli was second at 64, Bhuvneshwar Kumar third at 52, and Jitesh Sharma fourth at 42. The RCB XI combined averaged 212 fantasy points per match on CricToday, top-3 in the league.
Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru is RCB's primary home venue and produced the highest CricToday fantasy points per match — Patidar averaged 92 there, Kohli 78, Bhuvneshwar 56 in economy-bonus conditions. Raipur's Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Stadium is the secondary home with a bowling-friendly surface.
Captain RCB players on home-venue matches (Chinnaswamy, Raipur) and against pace-heavy attacks. Patidar at 2x on a Chinnaswamy matchday is the safest 2x captain on the CricToday platform. Fade him against left-arm spin attacks like Chennai and Rajasthan.
The CricToday sweet spot for RCB captaincy is 25 to 40% ownership. Above 40%, captaincy becomes a herd play and you should swap to a lower-owned differential captain like Livingstone or Bhuvneshwar. Vice-captain at 1.5x is correct at any ownership level.
RCB won IPL 2026 with a balanced squad anchored by Patidar, Kohli, Bhuvneshwar, and Jitesh. On CricToday the same squad produces top-3 fantasy points per match across the IPL — 212 per XI on average. The captain math on CricToday is straightforward: Patidar at 2x on home venues, Kohli as 1.5x VC on away venues, Livingstone and Bhuvneshwar as differential captains in close-match scenarios. The ownership trap is real at 32-38% on Patidar — rotate the 2x slot to a lower-owned differential on 6 of 14 matchdays. For more CricToday fantasy cricket strategy, see the teams hub, the players hub, and the fantasy cricket hub. Welcome bonus code CRICTODAY100 on first deposit.