No place for Virat Kohli as Vaibhav Sooryavanshi gets the nod in former CSK star's best IPL 2026 playing XII

NEW DELHI: Former India and CSK batter Subramaniam Badrinath has revealed his best IPL 2026 playing XII for the league stage, and the biggest talking point was the exclusion of superstars Virat Kohli and KL Rahul.

Instead, Badrinath, revealing the lineup in a video on his YouTube channel, chose young opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi alongside Shubman Gill at the top of the order.





His team was largely built around players from the top four sides that qualified for the playoffs, with nine of the 12 selections coming from those teams.

Badrinath preferred an Indian-heavy batting lineup and relied on overseas stars mainly in the bowling department, which mirrors how many IPL franchises are usually structured.

At number three, he selected Sai Sudharsan, while Heinrich Klaasen was picked as the middle-order powerhouse. Rajat Patidar, who now lead RCB to its second consecutive IPL final, also made the side as the finisher due to his impressive strike rate and ability to accelerate in pressure situations, even though he was not among the tournament’s top run-getters.

Badrinath’s lineup leaned heavily towards bowlers and all-rounders in the lower order. He picked spin all-rounders Krunal Pandya and Sunil Narine for their wicket-taking ability and economical spells during the season.

One surprise omission was Rashid Khan, despite his strong wicket tally. Badrinath appeared to value economy rate and control over just wicket numbers.

The pace attack included the tournament’s leading wicket-takers: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jofra Archer, and Kagiso Rabada.

He also added either Prince Yadav or Kartik Tyagi as an extra pace option, while Akeal Hosein was chosen as the Impact Player.

Subramaniam Badrinath IPL 2026 XII: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Heinrich Klaasen, Rajat Patidar, Krunal Pandya, Sunil Narine, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jofra Archer, Kagiso Rabada, Prince Yadav/Kartik Tyagi

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