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

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

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

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

"As far as Rajat goes, at this point he's out of our control, at NCA he's sort of undergoing treatment in that particular academy and we are still waiting for clarifications from him. And once we get clarifications, our media team will certainly keep you in loop and it might also be case 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 fact regarding his replacement in team squad. "We sort of anticipated it and it was factored in auction or pre-auction meeting. We are happy to secure 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 bowling group", Sanjay Bangar said. 

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