The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) middle-order aggressor had been ruled out of the tournament entirely with a heel injury.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have brought in Vyshak Vijay Kumar as replacement for the injured Rajat Patidar for the remainder of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023.
The franchise confirmed their replacement pick on Friday (April 7) alongside the like-for-like swap of Wayne Parnell for Reece Topley, who, too, has been sidelined with an injury.
While Patidar had been ruled out of the competition with a heel injury that he picked up ahead of RCB’s opening game, Topley went down with a dislocated shoulder during a fielding attempt in the match versus the Mumbai Indians (MI) on Saturday (April 1).
Both the cricketers would’ve bolstered RCB’s first-choice playing XI and given the franchise a healthy chance to bag their maiden IPL trophy.
That wasn’t to be: Patidar could not even get an opportunity to build on his gains from the last season, whereas Topley’s RCB stint could stretch as far as just two overs before a bad bump rained on his parade.
The RCB think-tank had already confirmed the signing of Parnell for Topley and has now declared Karnataka young talent Vyshak Vijay Kumar as their plug for Patidar’s absence.
Notably, the franchise has opted to strength the bowling resources instead of roping in a batting replacement for the MP cricketer, who now enters an extensive rehabilitation programme.
With Patidar recovering from heel injury, one had anticipated the side to spread the net wide among domestic batting talents for their choice. But in wake of Thursday night’s hammering against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), they have called in Kumar, who is predominantly a right-arm seamer for Indian domestic stalwarts Karnataka.
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The 26-year-old has played 10 first-class and 7 List A matches, apart from 14 domestic T20s, in which he has taken 22 wickets at 16.04 apiece while going for just 6.24 runs an over.
The idea in making the Patidar-Kumar swap was clearly to sharpen the bowling stocks since the RCB side has plenty of batting options available in the squad already.
Kumar might not instantly get his opportunities but his numbers tell of an encouraging prospect, who can come in and do well for the three-time finalists.
