Virat Kohli picks THIS star as best T20 opener over Rohit Sharma in…

Former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) captain Virat Kohli surprised many when he chose his old teammate Chris Gayle over India’s Rohit Sharma as the best opener in T20 cricket.

In a fun “This or That” game video released by RCB on Sunday, Virat had to pick one player over the other in different match-ups. The game started with Adam Gilchrist vs Sunil Narine – Virat picked Gilchrist. Then Gilchrist vs Travis Head – he went with Head for T20 cricket.

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The final choice was between Rohit Sharma and Chris Gayle. After thinking for a moment, Virat selected the West Indies legend as the best T20 opener.

Why Virat chose Gayle

Chris Gayle is widely regarded as one of the greatest T20 batters ever. He holds the record for most runs in T20 cricket history – 14,562 runs in 455 innings across all formats. In the IPL, Gayle smashed 4,965 runs in just 142 matches for RCB.

His biggest IPL knock was an unbeaten 175 against Pune Warriors in 2013 – still the highest individual score in IPL history.

Rohit Sharma has excellent numbers too: 4,231 runs in 159 T20I matches and 7,046 runs in 272 IPL matches. But in this fun game, Virat went with Gayle.

The fun game setup

The video showed Virat enjoying the quick choices. He compared players step by step until it came down to Rohit vs Gayle.

This light-hearted moment comes as Virat gets ready to lead RCB in IPL 2026. The IPL 2026 season is fast approaching, and excitement is building for the tournament’s 19th edition. Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), the reigning champions, will kick off the season against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the opening match.

RCB secured their first IPL title in 2025, ending an 18 year wait, after defeating Punjab Kings in the final. Virat Kohli was instrumental in that title run, scoring more than 650 runs during the season. Now, the team aims to defend their crown and make it back-to-back glory.

The BCCI has released the schedule for the first 20 days of the tournament.

RCB’s opening fixtures

RCB’s first match is against Sunrisers Hyderabad on March 28 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru (evening game, 7:30 PM IST).

Next up, they host Chennai Super Kings in a big home clash.

After that, RCB will face Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians in their early away games.

Here’s the RCB full squad for IPL 2026:

Rajat Patidar (c), Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Devdutt Padikkal, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Josh Hazlewood, Krunal Pandya, Tim David, Swapnil Singh, Romario Shepherd, Jacob Bethell, Venkatesh Iyer, Satwik Deswal, Mangesh Yadav, Vicky Ostwal, Vihan Malhotra, Kanishk Chouhan, Jordan Cox, Rasikh Dar, Suyash Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Nuwan Thushara, Abhinandan Singh, Jacob Duffy, Yash Dayal.