Royal Challengers Bengaluru will start their IPL 2026 defence without Yash Dayal. Mo Bobat, the franchise’s director of cricket, said so on a Tuesday ahead of the March 28 opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. Dayal stays under contract but will not join the squad.
“Just to confirm that Yash will not be joining up with the squad,” Bobat said. “As you know, he is currently going through a personal situation, and just to clarify, we’ve been very supportive of Yash to date, and that’s reflected in our decision to retain him.”
The cases against him
The left-arm pacer is the subject of complaints in two cities. In July 2025 he was accused of sexual harassment in Ghaziabad. Police in Jaipur then registered an FIR charging him with raping a minor. The Allahabad High Court gave him protection from arrest in the Ghaziabad matter. In the Jaipur case a court refused that protection because a minor was involved. Dayal was not arrested, and a hearing on August 22 granted him anticipatory bail. These are allegations, and the franchise’s statement did not address them directly.
A season that began as a triumph
Dayal had been part of RCB’s first title. In the 2025 final they beat Punjab Kings, and he took 13 wickets in 15 games at an economy of 9.59 and an average of 36.15. In November 2025 the franchise retained him for INR 5 crore, a decision that drew criticism when the retention list came out. Fans were angrier still when he appeared in a poster alongside Virat Kohli.
He has not played domestic cricket since. The Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association barred him from the UP T20 League, where Gorakhpur Lions had bought him for 7 lakh.
Hindustan Times reported that Dayal married content creator Shweta Pundir in Noida on February 4, with only family and close relatives present. He made no announcement himself.
His absence was visible before Bobat spoke. Dayal missed the recent RCB training session, where Kohli was seen rallying teammates before nets, and his face was missing from the graffiti on the team bus.
