RCB vs MI: Sanjay Bangar clears the air around Rajat Patidar's fitness and availability

RCB vs MI: The Royal Challengers Bangalore will begin their Indian Premier League 2023 campaign against Mumbai Indians at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on April 2, 2023. RCB have a pretty balanced squad for the season but the team has also suffered a lot of injury blows ahead of the tournament. Players like Josh Hazlewood, Will Jacks and Rajat Patidar have been ruled out of the tournament due to their respective injuries. However Patidar is still under doubt and this has been a concerning factor for the bangalore based franchise.

Rajat Patidar showed a lot of promise playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL 2022 and also slammed a century. RCB head coach Sanjay Bangar has given an update on Patidar's fitness and availability in the tournament. Bangar said that Rajat is going under the treatment at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru and the team management are still waiting for a clarification over his fitness. 

'We are still waiting for the clarifications from him': Sanjay Bangar

"As far as Rajat goes, at this point he's out of our control, at the NCA he's sort of undergoing treatment in that particular academy and we are still waiting for the clarifications from him. And once we get the clarifications, our media team will certainly keep you in the loop and it might also be the case the NCA will take a very sporting call on what he does or what his future holds", Sanjay Bangar said. 

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Speaking up on Josh Hazlewood Sanjay Bangar confirmed the fact regarding his replacement in the team squad. "We sort of anticipated it and it was factored in the auction or pre-auction meeting. We are happy to secure the services of Reece Topley, who provides a like-for-like replacement for Josh and having factored in that, that sort of gives us a good cover. I am sure his left-arm bowling option will add to the bowling group", Sanjay Bangar said. 

The Royal Challengers Bangalore have the likes of Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Faf du Plessis, Harshal Patel and Mohammed Siraj in their squad who can play a key role in team's performance in the match against Mumbai Indians. Mumbai Indians ahead of the match against RCB will also be hoping to make a winning start to the tournament as since 2013 they have not been able to win the first match of any IPL season.