Injury scare for Tim David ahead of IPL playoffs

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batter Tim David picked up an injury while fielding in RCB's 42-run loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), although he did come out to bat later.

While stand-in captain Jitesh Sharma did not have details on David's fitness immediately after the game, RCB will hope it's nothing major with the playoffs only five days away.

David was fielding at the boundary on the leg side in the last over of the SRH innings when Ishan Kishan swiped a Yash Dayal full toss behind square and David sprinted towards the fine leg boundary. David succeeded in keeping the ball inside the field of play and the batters to just one run, but was seen hobbling off soon after. Jacob Bethell replaced him for the remaining five balls of the over.

David batted at No. 8 in the chase of 232 and scored just 1 in five balls before he holed out to long-on in the 18th over as RCB were bowled out for 189 in 19.5 overs.

RCB are already fretting about injuries to a number of their key players. Their regular captain Rajat Patidar is recovering from a hand injury and was only fit to bat on Friday. Phil Salt was also not fit until recently, although he returned to action against SRH, and Devdutt Padikkal was ruled out of the tournament earlier this month, to be replaced by Mayank Agarwal.

Going forward, RCB will also lose Bethell because of national commitments (ODIs against West Indies) but he will be replaced by New Zealand wicketkeeper-batter Tim Seifert before the playoffs.

RCB are also expected to have their ace fast bowler Josh Hazlewood back for the playoffs, after a period of rehab on a shoulder niggle in Australia. Hazlewood had flown back home when the IPL was briefly suspended earlier this month but hasn't returned since because of the injury.

RCB slipped to third place after their loss to SRH, which also dented their net run rate. They must win their last league game and hope for some other results to go in their favour to finish in the top two.