Rajat Patidar set to miss first half of RCB’s campaign with heel injury

The injury concerns ahead of the Indian Premier League 2023 are increasing at a rapid pace, with Rajat Patidar, who has lately become an integral part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore set-up, could miss the first few weeks of the season due to a heel injury, for which he is currently in rehab at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.

The Madhya Pradesh batter, who scored a century in the last year’s Eliminator, picked up the injury right before joining the camp and now needs to be cleared by the NCA medical group before he could partake in the tournament.

Last year, Patidar was a real blessing for RCB and ended the season as the third-highest run-scorer for the franchise. Scoring 333 runs in seven innings at a strike rate of 152.75, Patidar became a sure contender for the No.3 spot in IPL 2023 with the franchise’s director of cricket, Mike Hesson already indicating that Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli would open this season. 

Also Read: Rajat Patidar is in the business of scoring runs, and he's not letting up anytime soon

A week after his IPL was done, the MP batter made 323 runs in the Ranji Trophy knockouts, including a century in the final, to tally 323 runs at 80.75. Almost 1000 runs in three months of playing cricket, crossing fifty in every knockout match he played at least once, and looking like a million dollars while doing it.

There is no confirmation about the availability of Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood, who is currently recovering from Achilles tendonitis. Hazlewood didn’t play a single Test in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and flew home mid-way to nurse the injury.