Rajat Patidar injury, RCB gets new caption: As the BCCI makes plans to resume the IPL 2025 soon, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have been thrown a curveball with their captain, Rajat Patidar, suffering a finger injury and being uncertain to feature in his side’s upcoming matches should the IPL restart this weekend.
The IPL 2025 was suspended for one week on Friday (May 9) as the Indo-Pak border tension rose. First, on May 8, the Punjab Kings vs Delhi Capitals clash in Dharamsala was abandoned after 10.1 overs, and the stadium was evacuated. The next morning, the board confirmed that the tournament was halted for a week.
On Saturday at 1130 GMT (1700 IST), a ceasefire between India and Pakistan came into effect, which emboldened the BCCI to start making plans for a resumption of the competition, given, of course, the permission of the Indian government.
The PBKS vs DC match was match 58 of the season. After this, 12 league games and four playoff matches, including the final, are slated to be played. The BCCI is hoping that they can finish the tournament by May 30. The board is reportedly planning to resume the tournament this weekend and play the rest of the matches in three cities: Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad. There would be multiple doubleheaders in that case.
Rajat Patidar injury: Jitesh Sharma slotted to lead RCB if Patidar doesn’t recover
RCB are having one of their best IPL seasons. They have 8 out of 11 matches so far and are sitting in the second position in the points table with one foot already in the playoffs. They will be targeting a top-two finish.
However, currently, they are fretting over a finger injury to their captain, Rajat Patidar. Patidar sustained a finger injury in the May 3rd game against CSK at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
“He (Patidar) was advised to wear a splint to protect the finger and refrain from training for at least 10 days before the injury could be assessed,” said a report in ESPNcricinfo.
Jitesh would have captained RCB against Lucknow Super Giants on May 9 if not for the temporary suspension of the tournament.
Jitesh said on RCB Bold Diaries, “I was very grateful for the opportunity given to me. They were giving me an opportunity to captain RCB, and it’s a very big thing for me and my family. I was thinking of what the right combination would be because both Devdutt [Padikkal] and Rajat were not available, and it was a big responsibility to replace them.”
Apart from Patidar, RCB have injury worries with other players as well. Devdutt Padikkal is already ruled out of the season with a hamstring injury and has been replaced by Mayank Agarwal.
Opener Phil Salt is ill and missed the last few games, with Jacob Bethell taking his place. Pacer Josh Hazlewood is dealing with a shoulder injury, and his status is not known yet.
Reportedly, all of RCB’s overseas players and coaching staff had left India after the tournament was suspended.
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