Kamal Ghorui
Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have been dealt a massive blow ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 as the franchise confirmed that the fast bowler Yash Dayal will miss the entire tournament due to personal reasons. Yash Dayal was not seen in the RCB’s training sessions and also in the poster of RCB which sparked rumours of his absence from IPL 2026. Now RCB’s director of cricket, Mo Bobat, has cleared all the doubts over his absence. “So, just to confirm that Yash will not be joining up with the squad. As you know, he is going through a personal situation currently, and just to clarify, we’ve been very supportive of Yash to date and that’s reflected in the fact that we retained him when we had the opportunity to either retain or release players. We wanted to retain him, and he remains under contract and will continue in the short term to remain under contract,” Bobat told the media during a press conference on Tuesday. “We are communicating with him regularly. I spoke to him earlier today as well, but it has been decided that it is not in his best interest or the franchise’s best interest for him to join up with us at this point. He retains our support, and he remains under contract, and we’ll continue to speak to him as he goes through his personal situation,” he added.Earlier, TimesofIndia.com had reached out to multiple RCB officials for an update on Dayal, but they didn’t respond. It has been learnt that the BCCI Centre of Excellence contacted the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) last September to check on the bowler, but the officials could not establish contact with him.“The case was going on against him, so he wasn’t considered for selection. I remember there was a call from CoE checking on him in September, but we weren’t able to establish any contact with Yash Dayal. He has even changed his number. Even his childhood coach doesn’t know his whereabouts,” a UPCA official tells TimesofIndia.com.
Yash Dayal for RCB in IPL
Yash Dayal has played two seasons (2024, 2025) with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), he has taken 28 wickets in 29 matches. He was a key figure in RCB’s bowling attack, notably helping the team reach the playoffs in 2024 and securing their first-ever IPL title in 2025. Dayal was the joint-highest wicket-taker for RCB in 2024 with 15 wickets. He has built a reputation as death over baller after conceding 5 sixes for Gujarat Titans in IPL 2023, RCB backed him and made him one of the dependable for RCB. Dayal, recently tied the knot with social media influencer Shweta Pundir in a primate ceremony, has been at the centre of major controversies of late. He was denied anticipatory bail a few months ago after he was involved in a case where he allegedly raped a minor. The controversy started in July 2025 when a lawsuit was brought against him for allegedly exploiting a woman under the guise of marriage. Later, a new case under the POSCO Act surfaced in Jaipur.
