Virat Kohli and Vaibhav Suryavanshi

New Delhi: Former India and CSK batsman Subramaniam Badrinath has given his best performance IPL 2026 Playing XI for the league stage, and the biggest talking point was the exclusion of superstars Virat Kohli and KL Rahul. Instead, Badrinath chose young opener Vaibhav Suryavanshi along with Shubman Gill at the top of the order, revealing the lineup in a video on his YouTube channel.Their team was largely built around players from the top four teams that qualified for the playoffs, with nine of the 12 selections coming from those teams. Badrinath preferred an Indian-heavy batting lineup and relied primarily on foreign stars in the bowling department, which reflects how many IPL franchises are typically structured.At number three, he chose Sai Sudarshan, while Heinrich Klaasen was selected as the middle-order powerhouse. Rajat Patidar also earned a place in the team as a finisher due to his impressive strike rate and ability to accelerate in pressure situations, even though he was not among the top run-scorers of the tournament.Badrinath’s lineup was heavily tilted towards bowlers and all-rounders in the lower order. He selected spin all-rounders Krunal Pandya and Sunil Narine for their wicket-taking ability and economical spells during the season.One surprising omission was Rashid Khan, despite his strong wickets. It appears that Badrinath gives importance to economy rate and controlling the wicket count only.The pace attack included the tournament’s leading wicket-takers: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jofra Archer and Kagiso Rabada. He also added Prince Yadav or Karthik Tyagi as additional pace options, while Akeal Hossein was selected as an impact player.Subramaniam Badrinath IPL 2026 XII: Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Shubman Gill, Sai Sudarshan, Heinrich Klaasen, Rajat Patidar, Krunal Pandya, Sunil Narine, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Joffra Archer, Kagiso Rabada, Prince Yadav/Karthik Tyagi