Royal Challengers Bangalore will take on Lucknow Supergiants in Lucknow today. Full salt Still recovering from injury. Former India captain Chris Srikanth believes Dev Dutt should open with Padikal. Virat Kohli And Jacob BethelThose who are opening in Salt’s absence, bat in the middle order instead.Bethel’s role in this season has become an important topic in the world of cricket. Having been benched for the first six matches despite coming off the back of an impressive ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 campaign, Bethel finally got his chance following Salt’s injury. However, in the three matches so far, he has scored only 39 runs at a strike rate of 150.Srikanth feels RCB lack an explosive presence at the top of the order.
- “Salt brought the element of destruction. Other teams, with players like Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head or Priyansh Arya and Prabhasmaran Singh, they bring the element of destruction, which RCB lacks. Salt was the one who brought them the attacking structure. You need a swashbuckler at the top, and he is missing.”
He also suggested that Dev Dutt Padikal should open alongside Virat Kohli, taking Bethel into the middle order.
- “Perhaps Pedicle should open for them against LSG, and Bethel can come into the middle order. RCB’s middle order has also failed against quality bowling. After Pedicle, positions four to seven have been dropped quite a few times,” he added.
Devdutt Padikal has completely transformed his T20 game this year, and has moved away from his earlier reputation as a slow starter to become one of the most aggressive top-order batsmen in the league. He has been a consistent force at No. 3 for RCB, providing the explosive opening that has defined their batting strategy this season. RCB has been outstanding in each of the 9 matches played so far and scored 282 runs with a strike rate of 188. His IPL success followed Karnataka’s 2025–26 domestic season, where he was the highest run-scorer in the Vijay Hazare Trophy (725 runs at 90.62) and led his state team to the Ranji Trophy final.Srikanth added that RCB’s balanced team should help them clinch a playoff berth in IPL 2026.
- “They have the best balance of both bowling and batting among all the teams. That means they can do well on any kind of wicket. RCB will definitely qualify for the playoffs, but whether they make it to the top two is a question,” he said.
The former opener also highlighted the importance of Kohli ahead of the crucial clash in Lucknow.
- “Virat Kohli is the key for RCB in this match, he is used to wickets like Lucknow. He will have to play a long innings at least till the 15th over. This is a crucial match for LSG, who have good bowling, but batting is a concern,” Srikanth said.
