Australia’s Shane Watson will be the interim captain of the IPL side Royal Challengers Bangalore in their first game against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Wednesday, a rematch of last year’s final.
With regular skipper Virat Kohli missing a few games of the competition due to a shoulder injury, South Africa’s AB de Villiers was set to lead the side.
However, de Villiers will miss the opening match as he is still recuperating from a back injury. Even though he trained at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Monday, coach Daniel Vettori thought it was best to give de Villiers more time to recuperate.
“He still has some minor discomfort and we felt that couple of days off would be best before we have him back in action,” Vettori said. “We hope to see him on the field in good form by April 8 match against Delhi Daredevils.”
Meanwhile, RCB were hit with another injury as 19-year-old batsman Sarfaraz Khan sustained a leg injury during practice on Monday. The youngster had to be stretchered off the field. He is likely to miss the entire IPL season. Earlier, KL Rahul was ruled out of the entire season due to a shoulder injury as well.