Why are neither Jacob Bethell nor Phil Salt playing for RCB vs Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2026
RCB are without their openers, Jacob Bethell and Phil Salt, against Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2026. Bethell suffered a finger injury, while Salt was rested as a precaution ahead of the playoffs despite rejoining the squad earlier this week.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru will miss the service of both Jacob Bethell and Phil Salt in the blockbuster clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. After Salt suffered an injury earlier in the season, Bethell replaced him in the playing XI, but failed to keep up with the momentum. The 22-year-old played seven games this season, scoring just 96 runs at a strike rate of 124.67.
He was expected to be dropped when Salt returns to the playing XI, but ahead of that, the England international hurt his finger and was ruled out of the clash against Hyderabad. Salt, in the meantime, has joined the squad earlier in the week, but the franchises aren’t ready to take any sort of risk at the moment. He is given a break for the Hyderabad game, allowing him to be completely ready for the playoffs.
Hyderabad opt to bat first
Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins have won the toss and elected to bat first. He confirmed that the team hasn’t tweaked the playing XI as they are backing the same combination ahead of the playoffs. Bengaluru, on the other hand, promoted Venkatesh Iyer to open the innings alongside Virat Kohli.
In the previous game, the India all-rounder featured at number four as captain Rajat Patidar was out with a concussion.
“There's one change. Bethell got injured. He got an injury in his finger and I'm coming in place of Bethell,” Patidar confirmed.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Playing XI): Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Salam Dar
Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (wk), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, Smaran Ravichandran, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins (c), Shivang Kumar, Eshan Malinga, Sakib Hussain
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