Virat Kohli has been named as a substitute for the match against Lucknow Super Giants on Wednesday 15 April. Kohli suffered an ankle injury during Sunday’s win against Mumbai Indians and did not take the field during the second innings. He trained on the eve of the match and was given permission to clash.
IPL 2026 Update, RCB vs LSG
RCB won the toss and opted to bowl first, giving them the freedom to use Kohli in the second innings. There is also a chance that India’s star batsman may come in at the end of the first innings instead of one of the bowlers. The defending champions also brought back Josh Hazlewood after he missed the match against MI. Hazlewood was dismantled by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi during his return match and rested for the high-profile clash.
RCB have in-form Jacob Duffy in place of Josh Hazlewood. Rasikh Salam also looks fit enough to play the match after struggling in the win in Mumbai. Lucknow chose to put their faith in the same team that lost to Gujarat Titans with George Lindo set to come on as a substitute.
RCB VS LSG: XIS PLAYING AND SUB IMPACT
Lucknow Super Giants Playing XI: Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Abdul Samad, Mukul Choudhary, Mohammed Shami, Avesh Khan, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Prince Yadav.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Playing XI: Philip Salt, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Salam, Josh Hazlewood
Influence of partial:
Lucknow Super Giants: Matthew Breetzke, Himmat Singh, Mayank Yadav, Manimaran Siddharth, George Linde
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Virat Kohli, Venkatesh Iyer, Mangesh Yadav, Jordan Cox, Kanishk Chouhan
IS KOHLI A FAN OF THE IMPACT PLAYER RULE?
Kohli is one player who was not in favor of the impact player rule when it came into existence in the 2024 season. The RCB batsman felt that the rule created an imbalance in the match between the bat and the ball.
“I say it like it is. If you see in this IPL, well, the fun is (on) one side, but the bowlers feel they should do what they should do (restrict the batting),” Kohli told Jio Cinema. “I’ve never seen anything like it, where bowlers think they’re going to concede a four or a six every ball. This is a very high level of cricket and in my opinion it shouldn’t be so dominant (in one aspect). There’s beauty in an even battle between bat and ball.”
“Not every team has (Jasprit) Bumrah or Rashid Khan or a mystery bowler. So what are you going to do? I’m telling you that one extra at-bat is why I’m playing at a strike rate of 200 and over in the powerplay. I know the batsman is coming in at number eight too.”
“As a batsman I can say this rule is good but the match should be exciting. Only fours and sixes are not exciting in cricket. What is exciting is that you can defend 160. So I think the balance has tipped a bit,” Kohli said.
This is the first time that Kohli will appear as an impact sub in the game.
– The end
Published on:
15 Apr 2026 19:09 IST
