Royal Challengers Bengaluru opener Phil Salt was ruled out of the IPL 2026 clash against Gujarat Titans. Captain Rajat Patidar announced it after the toss, revealing that the England international is currently dealing with an injury and, in his absence, Jacob Bethell will open the batting alongside Virat Kohli.ย
The 22-year-old played two matches for RCB last season and was expected to enjoy a bigger role this season, especially after a charismatic T20 World Cup 2026. However, the team management backed Salt as an opener, who amassed 202 runs in six matches at a strike rate of 168.33. Last year, Bethell hit a half-century for the side when Salt had to leave the camp for international duty. In two matches, he made 67 runs at a strike rate of 171.79.
For the match against Gujarat Titans, Bethell is, however, mentioned in the Impact Players list. Nevertheless, he was announced by Patidar. โOne change – Salty is injured, Bethell is in,โ Patidar said.
RCB win toss, elect to field
Bengaluru have won the toss and elected to field first in the clash at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Shubman Gill, leading Gujarat, noted that he doesnโt mind batting first as the surface wonโt change much as the game progresses. He also analysed the importance of assessing the conditions well and getting off to a good start to keep the scoreboarding ticking.
โI mean, generally on this ground, teams that have been chasing have had good success. But I think this looks like an even wicket. So hopefully it will be a good game for us. Honestly, not really. Itโs all about assessing the conditions early. And if you get off to a good powerplay, then you can build on that. So I think thatโs the challenge for us. If you get off to a good start, then just keep mounting on that,โ Gill said.
Gujarat Titans (Playing XI): Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Washington Sundar, Shahrukh Khan, Jason Holder, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Manav Suthar, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Playing XI): Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Salam Dar
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