IPL 2026: Irfan Pathan picks Rajasthan Royals’ XII, backs forgotten Indian leg-spinner

Former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan has praised Ravi Bishnoi for coming full circle and making a successful return to his hometown Rajasthan. Bishnoi was acquired by Rajasthan Royals for INR 7.2 crore in the auction for IPL 2026.

While speaking about his XII for RR, Irfan felt that a price of INR 7.2 crore was a good deal for both Bishnoi as well as RR.

“Look, Ravi Bishnoi started his career as a net bowler and then progressed further, but now he has come full circle and returned home. He knows these conditions very well. He used to be a net bowler for Rajasthan. They have bought him for around ₹7 crore [INR 7.2 crore], which is a very good buy,” shared Irfan in a video on his YouTube channel.

The erstwhile all-rounder highlighted how the low-bounce pitches in Jaipur will be helpful for bowlers like Bishnoi and Ravindra Jadeja if they are able to get their channels right.

“On this pitch, where there isn’t much bounce, if this low-trajectory bowler keeps hitting the right lengths, you will see a lot of LBW dismissals and bowleds. In Rajasthan’s team, it feels like there has definitely been an upgrade in the spin department. From one end, you have Jadeja, from the other end, you have Ravi Bishnoi,” he added.

Coming to Irfan’s RR XII, he picked Sam Curran to play over Shimron Hetmyer. The renowned commentator went ahead with Donovan Ferreira as the other all-rounder barring Curran and Jadeja and picked Sandeep Sharma to come in as the Impact Player. As expected, it was an all-Indian top 4 of the left-handed duo of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi followed by Dhruv Jurel and Riyan Parag.

Irfan Pathan’s Rajasthan Royals playing XII for IPL 2026:

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Sam Curran, Shimron Hetmyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Donovan Ferreira, Jofra Archer, Tushar Deshpande, Ravi Bishnoi

Impact Player: Sandeep Sharma