Excitement Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 reaches the limit of fever Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) opposite squares Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) highly rated in the 67th match of the tournament. Set against the vibrant backdrop of the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad on Friday, this blockbuster clash features two heavyweight sides who have already secured play-off berths. With the table set and crucial momentum on the line, fans packed the stadium in anticipation of a run-fest on Uppal’s historically flat deck. However, at the time of the toss, the team’s big news caught everyone off guard: RCB’s promising young all-rounder, Jacob Bethell, was not in the squad.
Why isn’t Jacob Bethell playing today’s match against SRH?
The mystery of Bethell’s absence from this important match was revealed Rajat Patidarwho handled the captaincy duties for RCB during the innings. Patidar revealed that Bethell has sat out the clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad due to a fresh finger injury. A young English cricketer who was tasked with opening the innings alongside him Virat Kohli after a previous injury Phil Salthe encountered this unexpected obstacle only on the eve of the final league match.
Despite the sudden forced change, Patidar radiated confidence in the depth and mindset of RCB’s senior squad going into the game. When asked what the team wanted to take out of this particular game, Patidar highlighted their relentless work ethic and noted that it doesn’t matter where the team stands on the points table as every match requires them to meet elite standards. He also highlighted that in a hyper-competitive tournament like the IPL, it is always difficult to manage injuries, especially when aiming for a championship win. Fortunately for RCB, that stands as their only major active injury concern, allowing Patidar himself a seamless return to the playing XI as Bethell’s direct replacement.
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Playing XI and effective substitutes of both teams
Captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad Pat Cummins won the toss on his home turf and elected to bat first aiming for a big total to increase his net run rate and climb into the top two. Both teams went into this high-octane clash with a strong, balanced line-up suited to the battle-friendly Hyderabad surface.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (XI Game): Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar KumarJosh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Salam Dar
Sunrisers Hyderabad (XI Game): Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (wk), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, Smaran Ravichandran, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins (c), Shivang Kumar, Eshan Malinga, Sakib Hussain.
Both strategists opted for a deep lineup of substitutes to tactically alter team dynamics as the match progressed.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Impact Subs: Tim David, Kanishk Chouhan, Swapnil Singh, Abhinandan Singh, Jordan Cox.
Sunrisers Hyderabad Impact Subs: Praful Hinge, Aniket Verma, Liam Livingstone, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel.
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