Why is RCB captain Rajat Patidar not playing against PBKS in Dharamshala?

Captain Rajat Patidar missed Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s match against Punjab Kings in Dharamshala on May 17 due to precautionary concussion concerns after sustaining a blow to his helmet in the previous match against Kolkata Knight Riders. With Patidar unavailable, vice-captain Jitesh Sharma led the side in the toss as RCB made two changes to their playing XI.

The match had massive playoff implications for both sides, with RCB needing a win to strengthen their push for the knockout stages of IPL 2026.

“Rajat is doing fantastic now and hopefully we will see him in Hyderabad,” said Jitesh Sharma after winning the toss against PBKS. “Suyash Sharma and Romario Shepherd come in for Rajat Patidar and Jacob Duffy.

In the process, the Patidar suffered a nasty blow to the back of his helmet RCB’s previous outing against KKR in Raipur on May 13. Facing only the second delivery of the innings, the RCB skipper mistimed a shot from a sharp bouncer from Kartik Tyagi and was hit on the back of the head after taking his eyes off the ball. Despite the hit, Patidar continued to bat before eventually falling to Sunil Narine shortly after hitting the spinner for a six.

“It’s fine. I’m fine. It was a proper header,” Patidar said after the KKR match.

PLAYING XIS

RCB brought in spinner Suyash Sharma as Patidar’s replacement, while Romario Shepherd returned to the XI in place of Jacob Duffy. The Punjab Kings also shuffled their mix, drafting Lockie Ferguson and Harpreet Brar for Xavier Bartlett and Marc Jansen.

The changes paid immediate dividends for PBKS as Harpreet Brar struck immediately with the ball. The left-arm spinner removed Jacob Bethell in the third over to give 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

Kings of Punjab: 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
Teams

– The end

Published on:

17 May 2026 15:44 IST