Captain Rajat Patidar among Indian players to reach RCB team hotel ahead of IPL 2025 resumption [In Pictures]

A swarm of Indian players, including skipper Rajat Patidar and all-rounder Krunal Pandya, reported to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) team hotel ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) restart. The three-time finalists are set to take on the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday, May 17, to kick-start the final leg of the season.

In a post shared by RCB's official social media handle on Thursday, May 15, the likes of Rajat Patidar, Krunal Pandya, Jitesh Sharma, Rasikh Salam, and Swapnil Singh, were seen checking in. The contingent also included one overseas player in Lungi Ngidi as well. The South African pacer had confirmed his return to IPL 2025 with a story on Instagram earlier.

At the time of the tournament's suspension, RCB were flying in the league stage, having lost only three matches so far. With 16 points, they were placed second in the standings, only behind the Gujarat Titans (GT) on net run-rate.

RCB have also begun to have a grip on home conditions after bagging successive wins over the Rajasthan Royals (RR) and the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) recently.

Rajat Patidar is recovering from a finger injury ahead of RCB's IPL 2025 clash against KKR

Reports had stated that Rajat Patidar might have missed a couple of matches had the tournament progressed as planned, due to a finger injury. The RCB skipper had hurt himself while fielding in the thrilling win over the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on May 3.

Although the brief break has given the batter a chance to recover, his availability for the upcoming fixture against KKR is not entirely certain. The franchise are already without left-handed batter Devdutt Padikkal, who has been ruled out of the remainder of the season due to a hamstring injury. RCB have named Karnataka batter Mayank Agarwal as a replacement.

Wicket-keeper batter Jitesh Sharma could potentially lead the side if Patidar does not recover in time. The Vidarbha player has led the Punjab Kings (PBKS) against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the closing stages of IPL 2024, with both Shikhar Dhawan and Sam Curran being unavailable.