Ravichandran Ashwin picks his best playing 12 of IPL 2026; doesn’t pick Virat Kohli as opener

Former Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has picked his best playing 12 of IPL 2026. Surprisingly, Ashwin didn’t pick RCB talisman Virat Kohli as opener. Ashwin backed Vaibhav Suryanvanshi and GT skipper Shubman Gill as openers in his team.

Suryavanshi bagged the Orange Cap, scoring 776 runs in 16 games at a blistering strike rate of 237.30 whereas Gill scored 732 runs in 16 matches and ended as the second highest run-getter.

Ashwin picked RCB’s veteran batter Virat Kohli at one drop. Kohli scored a total of 675 runs in 16 matches of IPL 2026 at an average of 56.25 and a strike rate of 165.84. 

The former CSK spinner backed Heinrich Klaasen to bat at number four. At number five and six, Ashwin picked Rajat Patidar and Nitish Kumar Reddy respectively.

Klaasen scored 604 runs in 15 matches. Patidar scored 501 runs in 14 innings and played with an aggressive approach in the middle overs whereas Reddy scored 302 runs in 13 innings. Reddy also bagged eight wickets in 14 matches.

Ashwin wants Krunal Pandya to take the number seven place in his team. Pandya picked 14 wickets in 15 innings, whereas he also scored 226 runs in nine innings. The former CSK all-rounder picked Bhuvneshwar Kumar as his Indian bowler. 

Ashwin picked Jamie Overton, Sunil Narine and Kagiso Rabada as his next three players. Overton scored 136 runs in six innings whereas he scalped 14 wickets in 10 matches. Narine bagged 15 wickets in 13 matches at an economy rate of 6.64. Rabada picked 29 wickets, whereas Kumar scalped 28 in 16 games.