Why is RCB captain Rajat Patidar not playing vs Punjab Kings? - Explained

NEW DELHI: Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru entered their important IPL 2026 clash against Punjab Kings astatine the HPCA Stadium successful Dharamsala without regular skipper Rajat Patidar. In Patidar’s absence, wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma led the side.RCB are the defending IPL champions, having defeated Punjab Kings successful the 2025 last to assistance the title.

Jitesh walked retired for the flip arsenic stand-in skipper aft Punjab Kings skipper Shreyas Iyer won the flip and opted to tract first."We're going to bowl. I'm not going by the stats, we're intelligibly seeing however the games cookware out. If we bat and vessel well, the flip doesn't matter. I earnestly had nary hint that this was my 100th crippled arsenic a skipper but it feels great.

It feels similar a large accidental for maine to triumph my 100th crippled (as captain)," Iyer said during the toss."The bowling has been fantastic, but determination are unit moments wherever you request to execute and truthful you can't alteration the past, nor you can't expect the future. The quality is to enactment successful the infinitesimal and spot the infinitesimal and bask the pressure. Two changes for america (Harpreet) Brar and Lockie (Ferguson) travel in," helium added.Jitesh, meanwhile, provided a large update connected Patidar’s fittingness status.

"We would person loved to vessel first, but the wicket is bully and should play good for 40 overs. Rajat is doing fantastic and we should spot him successful Hyderabad. Every crippled is important, this triumph tin alteration a batch for america and different teams. Suyash replaces Rajat and Romario replaces Duffy," Jitesh said.

Why is Rajat Patidar not playing against PBKS?

According to sources, Patidar did not question with the squad to Dharamsala and besides missed some signifier sessions up of the RCB-PBKS clash.Jitesh confirmed during the flip that the RCB skipper is recovering good and could instrumentality for the team’s adjacent game."Rajat is doing fantastic and we should spot him successful Hyderabad," Jitesh said.RCB volition look Sunrisers Hyderabad successful their last league-stage lucifer connected May 22.Patidar has enjoyed an outstanding IPL 2026 play truthful far, scoring 326 runs successful 10 innings astatine a blistering onslaught complaint of 195, including 3 half-centuries.The absorption volition present displacement to Jitesh, who has struggled with the bat this season. The wicketkeeper-batter has managed lone 90 runs truthful acold successful the tournament.RCB presently beryllium astatine the apical of the IPL 2026 points array with 16 points from 12 matches. They person won 8 games and mislaid four, portion maintaining a steadfast nett tally complaint of +1.053.They person played 12 matches, won 8 and mislaid 4 and person 16 points with a coagulated nett tally complaint of +1.053. Playing XIs:Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Playing XI): Jacob Bethell, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Venkatesh Iyer, Jitesh Sharma(w/c), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash SharmaPunjab Kings (Playing XI): Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh(w), Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer(c), Suryansh Shedge, Shashank Singh, Azmatullah Omarzai, Harpreet Brar, Lockie Ferguson, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra ChahalHere are the Impact substitutes for some the teams:Royal Challengers Bengaluru Impact subs: Rasikh Salam Dar, Jordan Cox, Abhinandan Singh, Swapnil Singh, Kanishk ChouhanPunjab Kings Impact Subs: Marcus Stoinis, Xavier Bartlett, Vishnu Vinod, Musheer Khan, Praveen Dubey