Why is Will Jacks not playing today's RCB vs RR Eliminator in IPL 2024?
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) will play their all-important Eliminator against the Rajasthan Royals at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium on Wednesday without one of their key batters, Will Jacks.
The English batter, who played a key part in RCB's turnaround from losing even of the first eight games to qualifying in the top four, left the RCB squad ahead of their match against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
He joined his national squad for their 2024 T20 World Cup preparations, with the tournament starting in June in the West Indies and the USA. England will play a four-match T20I series against Pakistan, starting Wednesday.
Speaking about his time at the team before leaving, Jacks talked about Bengaluru, and RCB fans, while also thanking some of his teammates for their support.
"It's been amazing," Jacks said in an RCB video at the time. "The fans have made it amazing... I have really loved it. The city, Bangalore, is really cool. It's been a great experience. Greeny (Cameron Green), Lockie (Ferguson), Maxy (Glenn Maxwell), I have learned a lot from all the big players, all the local players and everyone has been great with training. I think we have created a really great environment and that has helped us get on as well."
Will Jacks scored 230 runs in eight innings, including a brilliant century against the Gujarat Titans at an overall strike rate of 175.57. He made the number three position his own, despite rarely playing there for England. He's now likely to take the same position for England at the World Cup and against Pakistan.
RCB's playing 11 without Will Jacks
RCB managed his absence well against CSK as the batting lineup played like a coherent unit to notch an above-par score before an excellent defense from the fast bowlers. RCB chose Glenn Maxwell to replace him in the 11 and the out-of-form Australian contributed with a cameo of 16 (5) and a spell of 1/25.
They have stuck with the same team for this match too: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Rajat Patidar, Cameron Green, Glenn Maxwell, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Yash Dayal, Mohammed Siraj, and Lockie Ferguson.