Heel injury forces Rajat Patidar to sit out first half of IPL 2023

“Rajat Patidar’s potential absence from the first half of the IPL 2023 due to a heel injury can only be seen as a major setback for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Patidar needs to rest for the next three weeks before an MRI can determine whether he can participate in the second half of the competition. He got the injury before coming at the camp, hence he will need to acquire the all-clear from the NCA before joining the Royal Challengers squad.

The Royal Challengers may need to change their batting lineup as a result of Patidar’s absence. With him in the mix, Mike Hesson, the franchise’s director of cricket, had declared following the auction that Virat Kohli will continue to open the batting with Faf du Plessis. Due to the injury, they may now choose to start du Plessis and one of Finn Allen or Anuj Rawat with Kohli resuming his position at three. Patidar wasn’t chosen at the super auction of the previous year, but he was substituted in following the injury to wicketkeeper Luvnith Sisodia in the middle of the season. He made his Eliminator debut by scoring the quickest century by an Indian in the competition’s history, an effort that will go down as the finest in men’s franchise cricket in 2022.

After an MRI, his continued participation in the league will be decided, and the NCA must approve him before he can rejoin the organization. With two fifty-pluses and a hundred, Patidar scored 333 runs in seven innings in the 2022 season, striking out at a rate of 152.75. He was regarded as one of the lineup’s most crucial batters and was set to bat third at this year’s game. He was able to join India’s ODI team for the summer of that year thanks to his success in the IPL and his outstanding play for Madhya Pradesh during their championship-winning Ranji Trophy season the previous year.

RCB will have to alter the lineup due to his injury, though. In place of Glenn Maxwell, Michael Bracewell, and Dinesh Karthik, Shahbaz Ahmed—who might have batted at number 7—might be employed as a floater. Bracewell, Karthik, and Maxwell might follow him in that order, but the franchise also has the option to place him at number 3. Anuj Rawat can open with Faf du Plessis, and Virat Kohli can move back to the third position, if they decide to go with the longer-looking batting appearance. Seeing how RCB moves the batting order forward will be intriguing.

Siddarth Kaul, Wanindu Hasaranga, Mohammed Siraj, Harshal Patel, Shahbaz Ahmed, Michael Bracewell, and Glenn Maxwell will make up the bowling assault. Their bowling would become even more scary if they were to replace Bracewell with Josh Hazlewood. Siddarth Kaul appears to be the only weak link in this situation, although even he has the potential to be quite deadly at times.

Harshal Patel has consistently been a force to be reckoned with anytime he’s worn the RCB colors, and Siraj and Hasaranga are dependable customers. In the event that one of the primary bowlers has a terrible day, they will have adequate all-around options to choose from in Maxwell, Shahbaz, and Bracewell. On April 2, the squad will play the Mumbai Indians to start their season.

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