No Virat Kohli In Playing XI, Josh Hazlewood Returns: RCB vs LSG Toss Report

RCB vs LSG Toss - (Source: ScreenGrab/Hotstar)

On Wednesday, April 15, Royal Challengers Bengaluru hosted Lucknow Super Giants for IPL 2026 match 23. The Rajat Patidar-led side have three wins in four matches, while LSG have two wins in four matches.

For the toss, both captains - Rajat Patidar and Rishabh Pant walked down the ground for the coin flip. The luck went in hosts favour and RCB opted to field first.

Talking about the team changes, Josh Hazlewood is playing today's match replacing Jacob Duffy. Further, Virat Kohli, who had an injury scare in the last match, is playing tonight's match as an impact sub.

For LSG, they have named the same playing XI.

RCB vs LSG IPL 2026: Playing XIs

Lucknow Super Giants Playing XI: Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Abdul Samad, Mukul Choudhary, Mohammed Shami, Avesh Khan, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Prince Yadav

Royal Challengers Bengaluru Playing XI: Philip Salt, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Salam, Josh Hazlewood

RCB vs LSG IPL 2026: Captains Thought

Rishabh Pant (Lucknow Super Giants Captain): "We are pretty confident after being put into bat. You know it's a really good surface to bat on. In a wicket like this whether you bat first or bowl first doesn't matter. Eventually you need to play better cricket.

(Discussions post the defeat against GT) We feel as a group we need to come together and take ownership of whatever role we are playing as a team. We don't want to introspect after match how we want to play the game of cricket.

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Rajat Patidar (Royal Challengers Bengaluru Captain): "We're gonna bowl first. It's a good surface. We will bowl first and take advantage, put them under pressure.

[if the surface looks similar to last game] Not much. The previous game was having a lot of grass. No grass tonight. Could be a good track.

Why Is Virat Kohli Not In RCB's Playing XI?

Notably, Virat Kohli, has never started an IPL match as an impact sub. For the unversed, Virat Kohli batted against MI, but didn't take the field in the second innings because of an injury concern.

RCB didn't provide any official update on is injury status, but the 37-year-old was seen with heavy strapping around his knee during training session. There were doubts that the right-handed batter might miss a few games, but the fitness freak veteran is at the Chinnaswamy Stadium and will feature as an impact sub.