The Royal Challengers Bengaluru opener Phil Salt has travelled back to the UK for scans as he had faced a finger injury earlier. His injury is expected to be healed soon and then he will return back to India. The reason for the Englishman missing out on the games wasn’t mentioned by RCB earlier on but it now has been clarified that he has undergone a finger injury. He will miss some more matches for the side and Jacob Bethell will be the man who will be taking his spot in the starting squad. It has been a massive miss for RCB as they have missed some explosive starts in the power play in recent games and will be hoping for his return.

Phil Salt had a shaky start to the season but he found his form later on and was exceptionally good in the field. He has taken some absolute blinders in the field, which made the experts question why he chose to be a wicket-keeper, when he can field that brilliantly. The presence of Salt in the top-order has been a very prominent one for the side as he provides some solid starts. The inclusion of Jacob Bethell hasn’t disappointed the fans as he is a phenomenal talent and they were wishing to see his batting all along the season.

RCB riding strong form but face key absence as Jacob Bethell steps in

Rajat Patidar and his men have had a strong start to the season with just 3 losses from their 9 games. They have followed a very unusual pattern of winning two games on the bounce and losing their third. Virat Kohli has been in dominant form as he is at the 6th position in the Orange Cap leaderboard. The batting unit of RCB has been an absolute powerhouse with the likes of Devdutt Padikkal and Rajat Patidar in the middle. They have taken the fearless approach as they come to the crease with the mentality to hit from ball one and both the players have been in great touch. The finishing of RCB has been taken care of by Tim David as he can hit the long ball and he has already secured a Player of the Match award in this season.

The form of Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been simply outstanding as he has managed to pick up wickets in the powerplay and outsmart the batters. He has held over the Purple Cap as of now with his brilliant economy of just over 7. The bowling unit has been in fine form beyond doubt as they have managed to put pressure on sides with low scores as well. Krunal Pandya and Suyash Sharma have been bowling really well in the middle overs and they have controlled the damage caused. Their only area of concern would be the form of Jitesh Sharma as he hasn’t been the same as last season. He is struggling for runs and he will be under pressure with Venkatesh Iyer warming the bench.

RCB will have a challenge to overcome with the unavailability of Phil Salt for a couple of matches. They will be hoping that Jacob Bethell will be able to step into his shoes and take charge of the powerplay. RCB have their next match against the Lucknow Super Giants on Thursday and they will be confident about securing the two points.