The XII That Could Beat RCB — Built With Data

The IPL season is over, which means the IPL's discussion-season can now begin. In the immediate aftermath of the final, most of the debate tends to focus on the 'Team of the Tournament'.

In our opinion, any credible version of this should contain at least four RCB players, with Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Krunal Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar all leading candidates for places in the final XII.

And given that RCB are now back-to-back champions, and comfortable ones at that, there is also an argument that the entire RCB franchise could be named 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2026 season.

It is well-known that the franchise's success has been built on a data-friendly approach, while role profiling and team-balance also forms a core part of its strategy.

Now, we here at Big Hit Cricket are quite fond of that, and are partial to a bit of data analysis ourselves. So with that in mind, we thought it would be quite fun to build an alternative Team of the Tournament, whose sole goal is to beat RCB.

It goes without saying, then, that for this exercise all RCB players are unavailable for our selection, given that they are the opposition. However, all other IPL rules (four overseas slots and impact player) still apply.

But before we can even pick a single player to conquer the champs, we need to understand their style, their strengths and their weaknesses.

Scouting The Opponent

Taking an overview of RCB's basic team numbers doesn't reveal much, other than "good team performs well".

With the bat, Virat Kohli and co scored the third-highest total runs, at the 2nd-best average per wicket and 4th-fastest strike rate. So from top to bottom they have clearly built a strong batting side.

It's a similar story for their overall bowling, where RCB ranked 2nd in the tournament for wickets, economy rate, average runs per wicket, strike rate and total dot balls.

Formidable.

Digging down a little further doesn't make things much easier, but there are the faintest hints of weakness that can be taken advantage of with the right players.

The tables below show RCB's league rank for batting and bowling metrics in each phase of the game (powerplay, middle and death).

And they reveal that the middle overs are Bangalore's weakest part of their game in both disciplines.

With the bat, RCB have a clear strategy to keep their foot on the accelerator after the powerplay. And while that approach does yield a high run-rate compared to the rest of the league in the same phase, it also comes at the cost of regular wickets. In fact, only three teams lost wickets more frequently this season.

Selecting middle-phase wicket-takers will therefore be key to our XII. Having bowlers who can capitalise on RCB's risk vs reward approach can stem their momentum and swing the innings our way.

Similarly, with the ball, RCB had some of the worst numbers in the league during the middle overs. In particular they struggled to take regular wickets and often allowed partnerships to develop.

Krunal Pandya and Suyash Sharma bowled the majority of RCB's middle overs, with 39 and 37 total overs respectively. Both will need to be attacked with preferable matchups in our side, instead of consolidated against.

In addition Romario Shepherd weighed in with 17 middle-phase overs and was mightily expensive. His economy rate was just shy of 11 runs per over which is way above the team's phase average. He will also need to be taken advantage of in the handful of overs he bowls. Ideally hitting his medium pace forces Rajat Patidar to use an over or two of his death specialists in the middle, disrupting plans and rhythm for the title holders.

Bowler	Overs (middle)	Wickets	Economy	Dot %
Krunal Pandya	46.0	12	7.87	24.3%
Suyash Sharma	38.5	8	9.32	25.3%
Romario Shepherd	20.2	5	10.41	21.5%

Outside of the middle overs, there is an acceptance that RCB are an elite outfit with the ball in the powerplay and at the death with both bat and ball.

Their powerplay batting is solid, rather than spectacular so finding favourable matchups in that area that get us off to a good start, rather than them will be another priority in selection.

The Team

So. We now know what we're up against, and it's not going to be easy. But let's select our side in batting order.

Top Order

Walking out at the top of the order is going to be the hardest job in this side, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Duffy and Josh Hazelwood all hunting wickets while simultaneously stemming the flow of runs.

That trio were the best in the league during the powerplay this season as we saw in the earlier table so our top 3 need to have a record of surviving their onslaught, while managing to keep up a respectable scoring rate.

Unsurprisingly, the league's new sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi fits that bill. The 15-year-old Orange Cap winner showed throughout the tournament that big names do not phase him, and that was particularly the case against RCB.

He only faced 18 balls in the powerplay, but he was not dismissed and scored a monstrous 57 runs at a strike rate of 316.6!

He's the perfect role to take on RCB's biggest strength and, if he gets through it, put their weaker middle-phase options to the sword.

Alongside him will be a less predictable name in Mitch Marsh.

Like Suryavanshi, the Aussie was not dismissed by RCB during the powerplay and actually managed to face the most balls in that phase of anyone in our database (helped largely by his incredible century in early May).

In his 43 powerplay deliveries Marsh scored 80 runs at a strike rate equivalent to 11.16 per over. That's above the average RCB conceded in the powerplay (9.31) by a considerable margin. He's in.

At number 3 is Ishan Kishan, arguably the biggest batting thorn in RCB's side this season.

No player scored more runs against the champions, thanks to scores of 80 (38) and 79 (46) where the SRH wicketkeeper flourished against every bowler he faced.

Batter	Balls vs RCB	Runs	Strike Rate
Vaibhav Suryavanshi	18	57	316.7
Ishan Kishan	16	31	193.8
Mitch Marsh	43	80	186.0

Numbers 4, 5 and 6

On to the middle order and, as we established earlier, this selection forms a key part of our strategy to defeat RCB.

We are looking for exceptional spin hitters to fill at least two of the three slots between number 4 and 6, given that RCB predominantly bowl Krunal Pandya and Suyash Sharma in the middle overs. There is a player within the opposition that fits that bill perfectly, but sadly Rajat Patidar is RCB's captain and is therefore unavailable for selection.

Instead we are going to get a little creative and reinvent a prolific opener in to a middle-order spin specialist, because his numbers against it are frankly too good to ignore.

Taking just the middle-phase of this season's IPL, vs all spin bowling, Gujarat Titans skipper Shubman Gill scored more runs than any other player in the tournament, averaged 137, and scored at an equivalent SR to 10.81 runs per over.

Against Slow Left Arm bowlers (which Krunal is) his scoring rate jumped to 12.76 runs per over, while hitting a boundary every 3.1 balls. That is exactly the kind of pressure that will disrupt RCB's middle-overs plans.

And aside from that, another bonus to batting Gill at 4, is that should our innings get off to a horrendous start with early wickets, the Indian skipper is quite accustomed to batting in the powerplay anyway.

Against Suyash Sharma's leg spin, Gill is likely to be more cautious. His scoring rate vs that particular style fell to 8.55 per over in the middle phase. However, there will be plenty of complimentary partners for him to hand the strike to and watch from the other end.

Three of those would be Suryavanshi (middle overs SR vs leg spin of 227.2), Marsh (SR 170) and Ishan Kishan (169.2), but another would be Heinrich Klaasen, who was arguably the best middle-overs batter in the IPL this season.

The South African can slot in at number 5 and, if batting with Gill, form a dovetailing partnership where each can cover for the other's weakness.

Where Gill thrives against SLA and slows against leggies, Klaasen is the opposite. He averaged 68 against wrist spin this season, which is the highest of anyone to face at least 25 balls of it in the middle overs and he has a career matchup of 24/1 off 12 vs Suyash.

Against RCB overall, Klaasen enjoyed scoring freely during the middle phase regardless of the bowler. His SR against them rose almost 30 runs per 100 balls when compared to his tournament rate in the same phase. He's definitely one that raises his game against the best and he's in our side.

Completing our middle order at number 6 is a selection that could be described as a 'pure analytics pick'.

Aniket Verma is a 24-year-old with just 24 IPL games under his belt. His 2026 IPL season was modest overall at 79 runs from 54 balls and a strike rate of 146.

But then you dig down into his matchup data, and his record against leg spin almost jumps off the screen and smacks you in the face.

Across his T20 career, Verma has faced 17 deliveries from right-arm legbreak bowlers and scored 58 runs without being dismissed. That's a monstrous strike rate of 341.

Against wrist spin more broadly, in 33 balls, his strike rate is 315. Only twice in those 33 deliveries has he been dismissed.

We want to pick players to take down RCB's middle-overs spin. Suyash Sharma bowled 37 of them this season, and Suyash Sharma bowls leg spin. It's perfect for Verma.

There was even a little preview of the SRH batter's capabilities against RCB on 28th March. In that match against the champions, Verma faced 18 balls against the RCB bowling attack, hit four sixes, and scored 43 runs at a strike rate of 238. And he ended up not out.

Our middle order, then: Shubman Gill provides insurance in the powerplay if required, then targets Krunal Pandya. Heinrich Klaasen continues being the best middle-overs batter in the competition. Then Verma annihilates whatever wrist spin remains. It is, in theory, a neat demolition of RCB's entire middle-overs bowling plan.

Numbers 7 and 8

If the middle overs are where we intend to win this match with the bat, the same logic applies with the ball. We need bowlers who can attack RCB's batting lineup in overs six through fifteen with consistent pressure and genuine wicket-taking threat.

No partnership in the IPL this season has done more damage in that phase than Rashid Khan and Jason Holder.

Between them, Holder and Rashid delivered 485 balls in the middle phase for Gujarat Titans this season. They combined for 32 wickets, making them a formidable pair that bowled GT to the final.

The individual numbers are equally compelling. Rashid was the outright leading wicket-taker in middle overs across the entire tournament — 19 wickets at an economy of 8.62. Holder was just behind, with 13 at 7.50. Together, they account for one wicket roughly every 15 balls in that phase. When the batting side needs momentum, that is the kind of partnership that stops innings in their tracks.

Bowler	Balls (middle)	Wickets	Economy	Dot %
Rashid Khan	293	19	8.62	27.6%
Jason Holder	192	13	7.50	35.4%

Holder offers still more. His four wickets from 26 death-over balls at an economy of 5.54 makes him the most economical death bowler in the 2026 IPL season among those who bowled a meaningful number of deliveries there. For a medium-fast bowler in the final overs of a T20, that is a remarkable number. He bats at seven. He bowls in the middle and at the death. He is the complete all-round package for this side.

Against RCB directly, the combination delivered. Rashid took six wickets from 90 balls at 8.07 across two fixtures against the champions this season. Holder added five middle and death-over wickets of his own, including three in a single over during one of those matches. The partnership is established and they're the perfect pair to carry out our middle-overs attack plan.

Number 9

Time to introduce an out-and-out RCB specialist.

Harpreet Brar's overall IPL career figures are fine. Economy in the low eights, useful wickets when his conditions suit him, a reliable slow left-arm option for Punjab Kings XI over several IPL seasons.

Nothing about his headline numbers would see him walk into a 'Best Of' team. But when the remit is specifically to beat RCB, he immediately enters calculations.

Since the start of the 2025 IPL season, when RCB won their first title, Brar has taken 12 wickets in the competition. Five of those came against the back-to-back champions. That is 41% of his entire wicket tally over two seasons, against a single team.

In 2026 specifically, the pattern became even more pronounced. Brar took two IPL wickets this season. Both were against RCB. In his other appearances he was wicketless.

Against the champions, he always seems to deliver.

The Pace Attack

Two slots remain in our eleven, and both go to pace bowlers who have put together outstanding individual seasons.

Kartik Tyagi is first, and his selection is built almost entirely on one phase of the game. At the death in 2026, Tyagi was exceptional — 10 wickets from 102 balls at an economy of 10.24, placing him second in the IPL this season for death wickets behind only Avesh Kamboj. In an attack that already has Holder's miserly death-over option to call upon, a second genuine wicket-taker in those final four overs is invaluable.

He bowled in the powerplay too — four wickets from 66 balls at 11.09 — though the economy there was significantly less controlled.

Against RCB across all phases in 2026, he returned three wickets from 24 balls. His primary purpose in this team is to take wickets when runs are most expensive to concede and, on this season's evidence, he is one of the best in the competition at doing exactly that.

Our final selection is the most intriguing of the twelve. Prince Yadav was one of the genuinely consistent all-phase bowlers in the 2026 IPL — sixth in the tournament for powerplay wickets with seven from 115 balls, and a capable contributor in the middle and at the death. His powerplay economy of 8.40 and his dot ball rate of 38% make him a legitimate threat at the top.

But it was his record against this specific opposition that made his selection essentially unavoidable.

In the middle overs against RCB in 2026, Prince Yadav took four wickets from 12 balls at an economy of 5.50. Given that RCB's middle-over batting is, as we identified at the start, the most exploitable part of their game, having a bowler with those numbers against them specifically is not something a rational selector can ignore.

The Impact Player

Mohammed Siraj was the third-highest wicket-taker in the powerplay across the entire 2026 IPL season — 15 wickets from 282 balls at 7.79 economy. His dot ball percentage of 45% in that phase was the highest of any bowler in the top three. He creates pressure and takes wickets at the same time.

His numbers at the death were at the opposite end of the spectrum, so the temptation is to bowl him 3, maybe even 4 overs, in the powerplay. Just like GT did.

The Final XII

Building a side to beat the best team in the IPL is not easy. But using the data available we feel this side has as good a chance as any to get the job done.

A top three suited to fast scoring against an elite powerplay pace attack, a middle order picked entirely to destroy RCB's spin and a bowling line up designed to take regular wickets and stifle the run flow.

Bowler	Primary Phase	Balls	Wickets	Economy
Rashid Khan	Middle	293	19	8.62
Jason Holder	Middle/Death	192	13	7.50
Mohammed Siraj	Powerplay	282	15	7.79
Kartik Tyagi	Death	102	10	10.24
Prince Yadav	Powerplay/Middle	114	8	7.37
Harpreet Brar	Powerplay	18	1	6.67

Here is the XII in full. Would they beat RCB?