Renowned commentator Harsha Bhogle, on Tuesday, wrote a heartfelt tweet for Rajat Patidar after the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batsman had been ruled out of the IPL 2023.
On the afternoon of April 4th, still with the tournament into its first week, RCB announced that he has been ruled out of the tournament due to a heel injury that he’s been struggling over the past month.
The Madhya Pradesh batsman last played domestic cricket in early February before going down due to an Achilles Heel injury. He missed RCB’s first match, which they won by 8 wickets against Mumbai Indians.
RCB has not named a replacement of Rajat Patidar as of now
Patidar had been undergoing rehab at the BCCI’s National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru in the past couple of weeks and RCB had been hoping that he will be fit by mid-season.
However, now, it has been made clear that the 29-year-old will have to miss the entire tournament.
Harsha Bhogle’s emotional tweet about Patidar missing the IPL 2023
Known for his excellent, emotional foreplay with the words, Harsha Bhogle penned a tweet for Rajat Patidar from deep in his heart.
“Really got to feel for Rajat Patidar. I thought this would be break-out tournament and he had been in good form. Wish him well. He is a fine player,” Harsha Bhogle tweeted.
He added, pondering over RCB’s squad: “For @RCBTweets someone like Lomror or Prabhudesai will have to step up since they might lose Bracewell once Hasaranga returns”
Rajat had a breakthrough season last year. Coming in as an injury replacement player, Patidar made a huge impact scoring 333 runs in 7 innings at a strike rate of 152.75. He smashed a sizzling hundred in the Eliminator against Lucknow Super Giants to cap off a scintillating season.
He had come into the IPL with great form having helped Madhya Pradesh win the Ranji Trophy title and had even been given an India call-up.
For RCB, this is not the only injury problem. Josh Hazlewood is also dealing with Achilles tendonitis and is still back home in Australia. Reece Topley picked up a shoulder injury during the first game against Mumbai Indians.
