IPL 2026: When will Phil Salt return to play for Royal Challengers Bengaluru? Latest fitness update revealed

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) received a massive blow in between the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 as their wicket-keeper opening batter, Phil Salt, picked up an injury and return home to see the scans of the finger injury that has kept him out of the last three games for the side. 

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The Rajat Patidar-led side is currently at the second position of the points table with six victories in nine encounters at a net run rate of +1.420. They sill have five games left in the remainder of the league stage of the competition and will be needed to get around two more games to qualify for the playoffs.

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RCB hasn’t disclosed the nature of Phil Salt’s injury publicly, but the reports have claimed that he damaged a finger on his left hand while diving to save the boundary at the deep backward square leg in the sixth over of the second innings during the game against the Delhi Capitals (DC) at home.

The right-handed batter has started the campaign strongly with 202 runs in just six innings at an average of 33.66 and a strike rate of 168.33, thanks to two half-centuries at the best score of 78 runs. He has overall smashed 16 boundaries and 11 sixes so far in the event.

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The T20 World Cup winner of the England side, who is centrally contracted by the ECB, has gone back home to be with his family and has undergone scans on his finger. Both the player and the franchises remain hopeful of getting together at some point in the near future.

The reports claimed that the opener could miss their next four clashes and return for the away fixture against the Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 22 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad. 

Salt’s absence has given the chance to open with Jacob Bethell along side Virat Kohli after starting the season on the bench. He hasn’t made a significant impact yet, having managed only 39 runs in three innings but looks set four more chances at the top of the order with Jordan Cox being available as a spare batter.

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The timing of the injury of Salt has been frustrating for the franchise as they just rediscovered the best opening pair with more success at the top in the campaign.

They got a great six-day gap between the games, after Royal Challengers Bengaluru's defeat to the Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Several players had traveled to Maldives after the defeat for a mid-season break ahead of the next game against the Lucknow Super Giants.