3 possible opening pairs for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in IPL 2025

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 is set to begin on March 22 with the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) taking on the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). The Men in Red have made some significant changes to their roster for the upcoming tournament which will also lead to them choosing a new opening pair.

There is a lot of firepower in the batting department for the Bengaluru franchise. Their opening pair in the last two seasons comprised Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli. Since Du Plessis has been released by the franchise, RCB will be looking for new combinations at the top. There can be quite a few options to choose from and they all can potentially be effective.

Here are the top three probable opening pairs for RCB in the upcoming tournament: 

3. Phil Salt and Devdutt Padikkal  

There might be a chance that the management could decide to give some confidence to Devdutt Padikkal who could not perform in the last season. Phil Salt has a high chance of being an opener for the three-time IPL finalists looking at his record in that role in the T20 format. 

Salt played for KKR last season where he scored 435 runs in 12 matches and will be up against his former team in the opening game. Padikkal will be back in the RCB fold after three seasons and will want to make a comeback after last season where he could only manage to score 38 runs in seven games for the Lucknow Super Giants. 

Also Check: IPL 2025: Top 3 player combos to watch out for