IPL 2026: Why is Phil Salt not playing RCB vs GT Match 34?

Published - 24 Apr 2026, 19:02 IST | Updated - 24 Apr 2026, 19:18 IST

Gujarat Titans (GT) are batting first in Match 34 of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the famous venue of the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. The game holds importance for both sides, who are looking in decent form in the nineteenth edition of the marquee T20 tournament, but there are a couple of key misses for both sides, as Philip Salt and Kagiso Rabada are not featuring in the ongoing clash.

The host RCB side won the toss and invited the visiting GT team to set a target. Skipper Rajat Patidar said that the team has made thorough study of the venue, and that is one of the primary reasons for their success at the venue this season. On the other hand, GT's captain, Shubman Gill, wasn't really too bothered about losing the toss, since he has the belief in his batting unit to put a defendable total on the board.

As for the update on Philip Salt, the star wicketkeeper-batter picked up an injury ahead of the encounter, which led to his ouster from the playing combination in this game. To replace the batter, RCB brought in the service of fellow Englishman Jacob Bethell. He might be seen opening alongside Virat Kohli as RCB look to chase the target. GT, meanwhile, made a couple of changes, with Jason Holder and Manav Suthar coming in for Kagiso Rabada and Glenn Phillips.

I just feel this will be a bowl-first pitch. And as you all know, chasing gives us a lot of clarity about the result, the score and the total. One change – Salty got injured; Bethell is in. I think one great point that I like is that we are assessing the wicket and assessing the situation pretty well this year.

And of course, there’s a lot of planning behind it. It's pretty obvious. Whenever you come here at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, it’s a good wicket to bat on. But I think there’s no grass on it, so in the first innings it might be a bit tacky.

Generally on this ground, teams that have been chasing have had good success. But I think this looks like an even wicket. So hopefully it’outside the leg-stump be a good game for us. Honestly, not really. It’s all about assessing the conditions early. And if you get off to a good powerplay, then you can build on that. So I think that’s the challenge for us. If you get off to a good start, then just keep mounting on that.

Games like that in such a big tournament can happen (on the match against MI). But I think it’s very important to keep reminding ourselves of the things that, as a team, bring us the best success and the best result. And those are the things that we’outside the leg-stump be focusing on. we have got a couple of changes. Jason Holder comes in, he’s making his debut for us. And Manav Suthar comes back.

Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (captain), Jos Buttler (wicketkeeper), Washington Sundar, Shahrukh Khan, Jason Holder, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Manav Suthar, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj

Impact Substitutes: Prasidh Krishna, Anuj Rawat, Glenn Phillips, Nishant Sindhu, Arshad Khan

Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (captain), Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Salam Dar

Impact Substitutes: Jacob Bethell, Jordan Cox, Mangesh Yadav, Vicky Ostwal, Venkatesh Iyer