RCB got a big blow! This powerful batsman left India and returned home just before Qualifier-1

Jacob Bethell rolled out: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) has suffered a huge blow just before Qualifier-1. The team’s star English player Jacob Bethel has been ruled out of IPL 2026 due to injury and now he will return back to England. Bethel had injured his finger during the match played against Punjab Kings. Now he will not be a part of the team in the knockout match against Gujarat Titans on Tuesday. After returning to England, the medical team there will examine Bethel to assess his fitness for the Test series against New Zealand starting from June 4.

Giving this information on social media platform X, RCB wrote, ‘Jacob Bethel got injured on the ring finger of his left hand during the match against Punjab Kings. He is returning back to England to check his fitness before the Test series against New Zealand.

Soon after this, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) also confirmed this news. The ECB said in its statement, ‘After mutual consent with Royal Challengers Bangalore, it has been decided that top-order batsman Jacob Bethel will return to the UK due to injury. The England medical team will decide on his availability for the first Test match starting on June 4 at Lord’s.

IPL journey was a flop

Let us tell you that Jacob Bethel was included in the team after the injury of RCB’s regular opener Phil Salt. However, Bethel could not take much advantage of this opportunity and could score only 96 runs in the 7 matches he played before getting injured.

Cook and Peterson clashed over Bethel.

Interestingly, earlier this month, Jacob Bethel, without saying anything, had become the source of mutual debate between two great England batsmen, Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen, and the reason for this dispute was also the IPL.

When this young batsman was sitting on the RCB bench in the initial weeks of the tournament, former captain Alastair Cook had advised that Bethel should leave the IPL and return home. Cook believed that Bethel should play county cricket so that he could better prepare himself for the England Test team. Let us tell you that Bethel had scored a brilliant century in the Sydney Test during the Ashes series, which was also England’s last Test match.

Kevin Pietersen got angry at this statement of Cook. Pietersen hit back and said that even if Bethel is not getting a chance in the playing eleven, he will learn a lot by sharing the dressing room with the best players in the world. However, after this controversy, Bethel got a chance to play in some matches.

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