Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) received a positive update regarding the fitness of captain Rajat Patidar amidst a string of injury concerns plaguing the squad ahead of the IPL 2026 season. While Patidar made his long-awaited return to competitive cricket for Madhya Pradesh in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, scoring 29 runs, his delayed entry into the tournament was confirmed to be a precautionary measure rather than a fresh injury setback.
Reports indicate that Patidar was advised rest as part of a careful workload management plan, having recently recovered from a left ankle issue sustained before the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. This measured approach is aimed at ensuring the top-order batter is fully fit and prepared for the demands of the upcoming IPL season, offering a measure of relief to the RCB camp.
This news provides a crucial silver lining for RCB, which is currently grappling with injury clouds over several key overseas players, including Phil Salt,
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“No injury, was just advised rest since he had just recovered from a left ankle issue before SMAT. Slow workload build-up heading into the IPL.”
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The only good thing is that Patidar recovered from an ankle injury and returned to action. However, Patidar’s delayed entry into the Vijay Hazare Trophy was not due to any fresh injury.

A maiden Test century for Jacob Bethell! What a way to do it 🤩

To be honest, all the credit for that goes to DK (Dinesh Karthik) and Andy (Flower) at RCB. To be honest, the way they helped me through that phase and helped me understand how I can maximise my game in the T20 format helped me a lot in terms of understanding what I needed to do.

“No injury, was just advised rest since he had just recovered from a left ankle issue before SMAT. Slow workload build-up heading into the IPL.”