Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have named Kedar Jadhav as the replacement for the injured David Willey for the remainder of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. Jadhav made his IPL debut in 2010 and has played 93 IPL games, scoring 1196 runs. The right-handed batter has previously represented RCB in 17 matches and was brought on board for INR 1 Crore.
Willey’s IPL season cut short
England all-rounder David Willey played only four matches for RCB this season and scalped three wickets. Willey’s IPL 2023 season was cut short due to injury, which has led to the team management looking for his replacement.
Royal Challengers Bangalore are currently in sixth place in the IPL standings, with eight points from as many matches. The team is set to play second-placed Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on May 1.
Ahead of the clash, RCB wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik spoke about the challenges faced by the team’s batting unit. The team has lost batter Rajat Patidar through injury, and the poor outings of the middle-order have forced Virat Kohli and captain Faf Du Plessis to do the bulk of the scoring.
Karthik said, “Some good meetings went around. This is a very interesting part of the tournament, an interesting place in the table as well, the Bangalore ground has been 50-50 for us. I think it has been a hard ground for the bowlers at times, and for the middle-order batters too.”
RCB’s plan ahead
RCB will need to win their upcoming matches to climb up the IPL standings and qualify for the playoffs. Karthik added, “These next few games are going to be very challenging for the batting unit as well, the wickets might help the bowlers a lot more, so we have got to find a way to get the runs that are required for us to defend totals and score the runs the opposition has scored.” With Kedar Jadhav now joining the squad, RCB will hope to strengthen their batting order and put up a better performance in the upcoming matches.
