Royal Challengers Bengalru (RCB) captain Rajat Patidar did not turn up for the coin toss for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 clash against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Dharamsala. Patidar did not travel to Dharamsala due to an injury. In his stead, Jitesh Sharma has taken up the captaincy for the first time this season.
“Rajat is doing fantastic and we should see him in Hyderabad. Every game is important, this win can change a lot for us and other teams. Suyash replaces Rajat and Romario replaces Duffy,” Jitesh said at the coin toss.
Patidar’s absence is a big dent for RCB who are already missing the services of an injured Phil Salt and Jacob Bethell has struggled as well. To compensate that, RCB have replaced Jacob Duffy with Romario Shepherd, providing more depth to the batting lineup. Also, leg-spinner Suyash Sharma returned to the side despite pace-friendly conditions in Dharamsala.
RCB Playing XI vs PBKS -
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 player options - Rasikh Salam, Jordan Cox, Abhinandan Singh, Swapnil Singh, Kanishk Chouhan.
Jitesh's captaincy record
Last year, Jitesh captained in two games. The last time he captained RCB, he scored an unbeaten 33-ball 85 in a record run chase against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).
Iyer makes changes -
PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer made two changes for the must-win game. He opted to bowl and replaced Xavier Bartlett with Lockie Ferguson. Harpreet Brar also walked into the squad. It will be interesting to see whether he uses Marcus Stoinis or Vishnu Vinod as the impact player.
PBKS Playing XI - 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 player options - Marcus Stoinis, Xavier Bartlett, Vishnu Vinod, Musheer Khan, Praveen Dubey.