In a major blow to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), the star pacer Yash Dayal has been ruled out of the IPL 2026. RCB’s director of cricket Mo Bobat confirmed that Dayal, who is facing sexual assault charges, will not take a part in the IPL 2026.
“Just to confirm that Yash will not be joining the squad. As you know, he’s going through a personal situation. And just to clarify, we’ve been very supportive of Yash to date. And that’s reflected in the fact that we retained him when we had the opportunity to either retain or release players. We wanted to retain him,” said Mo Bobat at a pre-tournament press conference in Bengaluru on Tuesday, March 24.
“And he remains under contract and will continue to, in the short term, be foreseeable to remain under contract. We are communicating with him regularly, and I spoke to him earlier today as well. But it’s been decided that it is not in his best interest, or the franchise’s best interest, for him to join RCB at this point,” he added.
The 28-year-old left-arm pacer was last seen in action in the IPL 2025 final, where he took one wicket to lead RCB to their first-ever title. Dayal was signed by RCB for INR 5 crore in the IPL 2024 auction. He picked up 15 wickets in 2024 and claimed 13 wickets in 15 matches last season.
In July last year, Yash Dayal was allegedly booked for sexually assaulting a minor in 2023. Since then, both the player and RCB have faced fans’ backlash. Considering fans’ sentiments, the franchise has distanced themselves from the player just four days before the start of the IPL 2026.
Yash Dayal’s unavailability weakens RCB’s bowling attack
Yash Dayal’s unavailability for the IPL 2026 comes as a big blow to the RCB camp. The defending champions are without their premier fast bowler Josh Hazlewood for the early few games, and now Dayal’s exclusion further weakens the team’s pace attack.
IPL legend Bhuvneshwar Kumar is expected to lead the attack and will be a key bowler in the absence of Hazlewood and Dayal. Rasikh Salam, Abhinandan Singh and Mangesh Yadav also expected to fill up a void left by Dayal in RCB’s starting XI, while the likes of Jacob Duffy and Nuwan Thusara are likely to fill in for Hazlewood.
However, Hazlewood and Dayal, who picked up a combined 35 wickets in the IPL last season. Their experience and ability to take consistent wickets are likely to be missed by RCB fans in the first few games in IPL 2026.
RCB’s squad for IPL 2026:
Rajat Patidar (c), Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Jacob Bethell, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Nuwan Thushara, Rasikh Salam, Abhinandan Singh, Suyash Sharma, Venkatesh Iyer, Jacob Duffy, Satvik Deswal, Mangesh Yadav, Jordan Cox, Vicky Ostwal, Vihaan Malhotra, Kanishk. Chauhan.
Also read: RCB’s predicted XI for IPL 2026: Devdutt Padikkal at three, Venkatesh Iyer at five and Nuwan Thushara as an X factor
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