Royal Challengers Bengaluru have won the toss and have opted to field<\/b><\/p>\n
Rajat Patidar chose to bowl first, calling it a good surface with less grass than the previous game. He said the plan is to use early conditions and build pressure. He also noted that contributions have come from different players, which has helped the team\u2019s strong start. Josh Hazlewood comes in for Duffy.<\/p>\n
Kohli kept out as precaution, named in impact list<\/strong><\/p>\n Virat Kohli was not included in the playing XI for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, despite being fit enough to feature in the match-day squad. The decision appears precautionary after he picked up a minor fever and minor ankle or knee niggle during the game against Mumbai Indians on April 12.<\/p>\n Kohli had his knee heavily strapped in that match and looked in some discomfort. While there is no major injury concern, the management have opted to manage his workload. He has been named among the impact substitutes, which keeps the option open for him to be used later depending on the match situation. Virat Kohli named as Impact Sub for the first time in his IPL career<\/p>\n Form strong, presence still central for RCB<\/strong><\/p>\n Kohli\u2019s absence from the starting XI is notable given his form. He has scored 179 runs in four matches at an average of 59.67 and a strike rate of 162.73, including two half-centuries. He has been central to RCB\u2019s batting stability at the top.<\/p>\n Beyond numbers, his presence on the field carries weight. His energy, involvement in key moments, and tactical inputs often ease the burden on captain Rajat Patidar. Even from the sidelines, his influence remains.<\/p>\n The move to keep him out of the XI suggests caution rather than concern. With a long season ahead, managing fitness becomes as important as form.<\/p>\n Lucknow Super Giants Playing XI:<\/strong>\u00a0Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Abdul Samad, Mukul Choudhary, Mohammed Shami, Avesh Khan, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Prince Yadav<\/p>\n Royal Challengers Bengaluru Playing XI:<\/strong>\u00a0Philip Salt, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Salam, Josh Hazlewood<\/p>\n Impact Player Substitutions:<\/u><\/b><\/p>\n <\/b>Lucknow Super Giants:<\/b>\u00a0Matthew Breetzke, Himmat Singh, Mayank Yadav, Manimaran Siddharth, George Linde<\/p>\n Royal Challengers Bengaluru:<\/b>\u00a0Virat Kohli, Venkatesh Iyer, Mangesh Yadav, Jordan Cox, Kanishk Chouhan<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Royal Challengers Bengaluru have won the toss and have opted to field Rajat Patidar chose to bowl first, calling it\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":473,"featured_media":48043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4057],"class_list":["post-48767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ipl","tag-top-stories"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/473"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48767"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48775,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48767\/revisions\/48775"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}