New Delhi: Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have started preparations for the 2026 edition of the Indian Premier League at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. While led by some leading Indian stars Virat Kohlihave been in attendance, bowler Yash Dayal was a notable absentee. He was not seen with the group on the first day of camp on March 18 and is missing from the action.
Rajat Patidar, Krunal Pandya, Jitesh Sharma, Suyash Sharma, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are the prominent names preparing to defend the title. Andy Flowerbut Dayal’s mysterious absence has already raised eyebrows.Pictures of the RCB team bus are doing the rounds on social media, and Dayal is nowhere to be seen in them either. Additionally, several of the franchise’s social media posts do not mention Bowler.In a video uploaded by his wife Shweta Pandir on Instagram, Dayal can be seen taking a throw-down from the side-arm specialist, but he seemed far away from the action in Bengaluru.
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TimesofIndia.com contacted several RCB officials for an update on Dayal, but they have not yet responded. The franchise retained the cricketer for Rs 5 crore before the mini-auction held in Jeddah last year and received a lot of backlash due to the legal case against the cricketer at the time.Dayal’s last match was in June 2025 when he played for RCB in the IPL final against Punjab Kings. Since then, the bowler has been sidelined from competitive cricket. Uttar Pradesh did not consider them throughout the home season. It is learned that the BCCI Center of Excellence had approached the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) last September to test the bowler, but officials could not get in touch with him. “A case was pending against him, so he was not considered for selection. I remember he was scrutinized by the CoE in September, but we were not able to get in touch with Yash Dayal. He has also changed his number. Even his childhood coach doesn’t know,” a UPCA official told TimesofIndia.com. It remains to be seen whether he will feature for RCB in this year’s IPL.
