RCB skipper Patidar currently nursing a finger injury and would have probably missed two IPL games had the league continued as normal.
RCB skipper Rajat Patidar recovering from finger injury.
If the IPL 2025 hadn’t been momentarily halted owing to cross-border hostilities between India and Pakistan, Rajat Patidar, the captain of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), would have missed at least two games due to a finger injury.
He has had at least a week to recuperate without missing any matches thanks to the tournament’s brief suspension.
On May 3, Patidar sustained the injury while fielding for the RCB against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at home. Before the damage could be evaluated, he was instructed to protect the finger with a splint and to stop training for at least ten days.
Given Patidar’s availability for the IPL playoffs and his potential selection for the forthcoming India A tour to England, RCB is exercising caution in his recuperation. It is anticipated that the tour’s roster will be revealed in the next few days.
Patidar and the other members of the RCB team returned to Bengaluru from Lucknow on Saturday. After the ceasefire between India and Pakistan was announced on Saturday night, he was hopeful that he would be able to play the rest of the IPL season if it resumed the following week.
Before the BCCI stopped the IPL for a week on May 8, Jitesh Sharma was scheduled to captain RCB against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Friday due to Patidar’s injury.
“I was very grateful for the opportunity given to me,” Jitesh said on RCB Bold Diaries. “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.
“And as per the position we were on the points table, we would have won this game. All of this was going on in my head and all the meetings with coaches and players in those two-three days, batting order, discussions with bowlers. I had good fun.”
Before the IPL was delayed, RCB had a number of injuries, including Patidar’s. Josh Hazlewood sustained a shoulder injury, Padikkal was sidelined for the season due to a hamstring injury, and opening batsman Phil Salt was sick and replaced in the starting lineup by Jacob Bethell.
All of RCB’s foreign players and coaching staff had departed India as of Sunday, but they were ordered to be on standby in case the competition resumed.