“Venkatesh Iyer will not be in the playing eleven” - Anil Kumble makes a startling statement ahead of IPL 2026

Anil Kumble, who captained RCB to the IPL 2009 final and became its chief mentor in 2011, has stated that the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) might not be able to fit their batting all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer in their starting XI, adding that the franchise will not make major changes to their title-winning playing XI.

Notably, Iyer was roped in by the RCB franchise for a whopping 7 crore in the IPL 2026 mini-auction earlier this month in Abu Dhabi after being involved in a bidding war with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) franchise.

"Venkatesh Iyer will not be in the playing eleven at the start. You do not want to create doubt in a winning team. That is probably why they did not go after a Ravi Bishnoi, so that Suyash Sharma does not feel threatened by a senior India spinner," Anil Kumble told JioHotstar.

"RCB thought they might get outbid, but they did not, so they are happy to have Venkatesh Iyer. They (RCB) have done well to keep the core the same, back their players, and just have a few backups in case something goes wrong,” Kumble added.

Furthermore, Kumble asserted that while Jacob Duffy would be the back-up bowler for Josh Hazlewood, Jordan Cox would be an able replacement for Phil Salt. On the other hand, he added that Mangesh Yadav would be a like-for-like replacement for Yash Dayal.

"Jacob Duffy will be a backup for Josh Hazlewood, and Jordan Cox is a like-for-like replacement for Phil Salt. Mangesh Yadav comes in as a backup for Yash Dayal. He is a left-arm seamer with a lot of potential, though he has not played much cricket,” he concluded.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) full squad for IPL 2026

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

*denotes overseas player.

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