Why is RCB captain Rajat Patidar not playing against PBKS in Dharamshala?
IPL 2026: Rajat Patidar did not take the field for Royal Challengers Bengaluru against Punjab Kings in Dharamshala, with Jitesh Sharma stepping in for the toss and Suash Sharma replacing himas an impact substitute.
Captain Rajat Patidar missed Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s must-win clash against Punjab Kings in Dharamshala on May 17 due to precautionary concussion concerns after suffering a blow to the helmet in the previous match against Kolkata Knight Riders. With Patidar unavailable, vice-captain Jitesh Sharma led the side at the toss as RCB made two changes to their playing XI.
The fixture carried massive playoff implications for both sides, with RCB needing a win to strengthen their push towards the IPL 2026 knockout stages.
“Rajat is doing fantastic now and hopefully we'll see him in Hyderabad,” Jitesh Sharma said after winning the toss against PBKS. “Suyash Sharma and Romario Shepherd come in for Rajat Patidar and Jacob Duffy.”
Patidar had copped a nasty blow to the back of his helmet during RCB’s previous outing against KKR in Raipur on May 13. Facing just his second delivery of the innings, the RCB skipper mistimed a pull shot off a sharp bouncer from Kartik Tyagi and was struck on the back of the head after taking his eyes off the ball. Despite the hit, Patidar continued batting before eventually falling to Sunil Narine shortly after hitting the spinner for a six.
“It's okay. I'm okay. It was a proper head shot,” Patidar had said after the KKR game.
PLAYING XIS
RCB brought in spinner Suyash Sharma as Patidar’s replacement, while Romario Shepherd returned to the XI in place of Jacob Duffy. Punjab Kings also shuffled their combination, drafting in Lockie Ferguson and Harpreet Brar for Xavier Bartlett and Marco Jansen.
The changes paid immediate dividends for PBKS as Harpreet Brar made an instant impact with the ball. The left-arm spinner removed Jacob Bethell in the third over, handing Punjab an early breakthrough after RCB were asked to bat first in Dharamshala.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Jacob Bethell, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Venkatesh Iyer, Jitesh Sharma(w/c), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma
Impact subs: Rasikh Salam Dar, Jordan Cox, Abhinandan Singh, Swapnil Singh, Kanishk Chouhan
Punjab Kings: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh(w), Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer(c), Suryansh Shedge, Shashank Singh, Azmatullah Omarzai, Harpreet Brar, Lockie Ferguson, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
Impact Subs: Marcus Stoinis, Xavier Bartlett, Vishnu Vinod, Musheer Khan, Praveen Dubey
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