IPL 2026: RCB opt to bowl against LSG, two star players miss out; Know playing XIs

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) won the toss and elected to bowl first against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 clash at the Ekana stadium on May 7.

Meanwhile, LSG made two changes in their playing XI. Josh Inglis, Mohsin Khan and Avesh Khan walked out of LSG's fold to pave the way for Arshin Kulkarni, Digvesh Rathi and Shahbaz Ahmed. On the other hand, RCB didn't tinker with their playing XI.

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What did the captains say at the toss?

RCB skipper Rajat Patidar, after winning the toss, said:

"We will bowl first. It's not as loud as Chinnaswamy, but it's still loud. I think we're gonna get a pretty hard surface, but I'm not sure, it's a black soil pitch and the past four or five matches here had low scores. We'll try to restrict them to as low a score as possible. (on the break) It was a good break I would say. And everyone is looking in good frame of mind. And we came together after six or seven days of pretty hard work plus a couple of weeks. As I said, everyone is doing pretty well throughout the tournament and we are looking forward for this game. We're playing with the same team."

Meanwhile, LSG captain Rishabh Pant, after losing the toss, said:

"We have a few injuries in our team. So Arshin (Kulkarni) comes in for Inglis, he's a little injured. Mohsin is also little injured, and Shahbaz (Ahmed) comes in for Sid (Manimaran Siddharth). (Conversations within the side?) The only thing is moving with more clarity. We know we are the top players, but at the same time, when clarity is missing sometimes, it can happen in cricket. So most of the time, the talk is about clarity, and there are a few changes in the batting order, so hopefully we can figure out and take it for the next season. Having a stable environment in T20 cricket is essential, but at the same time, when the changes are needed, you should be able to change something, because every time, doing the same thing might not give you the same outcome. So trying sometimes, especially where we stand now, trying is not a bad option for sure. (Good score on this pitch?) It looks like 180-190 wicket for sure. It's a better wicket than a lot of the matches for sure."

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Lucknow Super Giants (Playing XI):

Mitchell Marsh, Arshin Kulkarni, Nicholas Pooran, Aiden Markram, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Akshat Raghuwanshi, Himmat Singh, Shahbaz Ahmed, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Mohammed Shami, Prince Yadav

Lucknow Super Giants Impact Subs: Mayank Yadav, Mukul Choudhary, Abdul Samad, Manimaran Siddharth, Avesh Khan

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Playing XI):

Jacob Bethell, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar(c), Jitesh Sharma(w), Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Salam Dar, Josh Hazlewood

Royal Challengers Bengaluru Impact subs: Jordan Cox, Tim David, Mangesh Yadav, Vicky Ostwal, Venkatesh Iyer