Bangalore, March 24 Controversial pacer Yash Dayal will not be joining the Royal Challengers Bangalore squad for the upcoming IPL, but he remains under contract with the team, franchise director of cricket Mo Bobat said on Tuesday.
The 28-year-old Dayal, who is facing two allegations of sexual exploitation, has not played any competitive cricket since appearing in the IPL 2025 final that RCB won to become champions for the first time.
"So, just to confirm that Yash will not be joining the squad. As you know, he is currently going through a personal situation, and just to clarify, we have been very supportive of Yash to date, and that is reflected in the opportunity to either retain or release players," said Bobat at the season-opening press meet here on Tuesday.
"We wanted to retain him, and he remains under contract, and we will continue to have him under contract in the foreseeable future," he added.
Dayal, who recently got married, has been accused of sexual exploitation by two women, one of whom is a minor teenager. Bobat said the franchise has kept the lines of communication open with him.
"We are communicating with him regularly, I spoke to him earlier today. But it has been decided that it is not in his best interest, or in the franchise's best interest, for him to join us at this point."
"We will not be making any further comments on that at this stage. But he obviously retains our support, he remains under contract, and we will continue to speak to him as he goes through his personal situation," he explained.
Bobat said they have enough depth in their ranks to cover for Dayal.
"If we were thinking of domestic replacements, if that's what we were looking to do, then I mentioned Rasik (Salam), Abhinandan Singh and Mangesh (Yadav). There are three very good options."
"All three of those have had excellent preparatory camps so far. So we have kept all our options open. I enjoyed scouting Mangesh in the off-season, prior to the auction," he said.
Nonetheless, Bobat admitted that Dayal, who was the joint highest wicket-taker for RCB in the 2024 season, would be missed.
"...it's obviously a blow, losing a player like Yash. He has been an important part for us for the last couple of years, but we are very confident in the options we have in the squad," he said.
Bobat also hoped that pacer Josh Hazlewood will be able to join the squad at the earliest after completing his recovery process.