Irfan Pathan names two players RCB should release ahead of IPL 2026 auction

Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan believes defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru can put Liam Livingstone in the auction. Pathan highlighted that RCB has a settled squad as they tick most of the right boxes.

Livingstone scored 122 runs in eight innings of IPL 2025 at an average of 16 and a strike rate of 133.33. The England International scalped two wickets in five innings of the previous season. Livingstone was roped in for INR 8.75 crore in the IPL 2025 mega auction.

Irfan Pathan said on his YouTube Channel, “RCB is a very settled unit. If you see the XI that played the final, 8 of them had won the Player of the Match awards. They were quite consistent. Those players will again be in focus. Liam Livingstone will be a talking point. RCB spent ₹8.75 crore on him but he made only 112 runs and his strike rate was 133 as more is expected of him. He bowled nine overs with the ball. He did score 25 off 15 balls in the final. But if you see RCB’s overseas players, they are quite settled. Breaking into the XI will be hard because there is Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Josh Hazlewood, and Phil Salt. All four are potent. It won’t be a bad option to keep Livingstone in the auction and see what happens.”

Pathan said eyes will also be on Rasikh Salam Dar, who hardly played for RCB. Dar picked up one wicket in two matches he played and bowled with an expensive economy rate of 11.66.

“Eyes will also be on Rasikh Salam. He was bought for ₹6 crore but didn’t perform that well. He is a good bowler and RCB needs a bowler, who can bowl those back-of-the hand slower balls. But RCB will be thinking if they can put him in the auction and buy him again at a lesser price. If these two are released, RCB have an extra purse amount of ₹15 crore,” Pathan added.

On the other hand, Pathan highlighted that he doesn’t think the Mumbai Indians will be making too many changes to their squad.

“Mumbai Indians may retain most of their players. They played well and qualified for the playoffs. The expectation is more from them because they have plenty of match-winners, especially Indian players. Allah Ghazanfar was injured but could still be retained. Spotlight will be on Deepak Chahar because he didn’t do well at first and performed well later.”

MI have already roped in Shardul Thakur and Sherfane Rutherford from Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans, respectively.