Navi Mumbai, Jan 10 (IANS) Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) head coach Malolan Rangarajan has revealed that Pooja Vastrakar has sustained a hamstring injury, because of which she was unavailable for selection for the team’s opening game of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2026 against the Mumbai Indians (MI) on Friday, and also stated that the pacer will be out for at least two more weeks.

RCB took the field without Vastrakar and went on to win a thriller against defending champions Mumbai Indians, with Nadine de Klerk starring with an unbeaten half-century at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Friday night.

The RCB head coach also stated that Vastrakar will be out for at least two more weeks.

The left-arm pacer, who represented MI in the previous three editions of the tournament, was roped in by RCB at the mega-auction ahead of the tournament’s fourth season. However, the team’s head coach stated that she suffered a hamstring injury just a couple of days before being released from the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (CoE), where she had been undergoing rehab for a shoulder injury, and as a result had been ruled out of the upcoming two weeks of the tournament.

“Pooja Vastrakar is not available for selection. Two days prior to her release from the CoE, she unfortunately tweaked her hamstring. The information we have at the moment is that she is going to be out for two more weeks. It's a hamstring issue. She was there for her shoulder, and now she has a hamstring issue. It's a week-by-week progress,” Rangarajan told the media after their WPL opener against MI.

In November, when RCB acquired Vastrakar for INR 85 lakh, Rangarajan mentioned that she "changes a lot of things for RCB as far as combinations are concerned." Vastrakar was injured during the auction, and the WPL was seen as her comeback opportunity, since her last competitive match was in the T20 World Cup in October 2024.

In her absence, RCB handed the new ball to another fresh signing, England left-arm spinner Linsey Smith, who delivered a tidy spell of two overs for 23 runs. The first change also marked a debut, with Arundhati Reddy returning figures of 4-0-37-0. The decisive impact, however, came from a familiar face from RCB’s 2024 title-winning campaign. All-rounder Nadine de Klerk starred with a rare double, becoming just the second player in WPL history to score a half-century and claim a four-wicket haul in the same match.

RCB will be back in action on Monday, facing UP Warriorz at the same venue.

--IANS

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