Goa, May 26 -- Former S Badrinath and Chennai Super Kings batter S Badrinath has revealed his best 12 players from the IPL 2026 league stage, with the omission of star batters Virat Kohli and KL Rahul emerging as the biggest talking point.

Despite both Kohli and Rahul scoring more than 550 runs during the league phase, neither featured in Badrinath's selected squad. Notably, nine of the 12 players chosen were from the four teams that qualified for the IPL 2026 playoffs.

For the batting lineup, Badrinath selected young sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi alongside Shubman Gill as the opening pair. Sai Sudharsan was picked at No. 3, followed by explosive South African wicketkeeper-batter Heinrich Klaasen at No. 4.

At No. 5, Badrinath went wit...