Rasikh Salam Dar Takes Four Wickets, Lifts RCB's Pace Depth
rasikh salam Dar has turned a second outing into a clear role for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. He took four wickets against Lucknow Super Giants at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, and the club now has a third seamer giving Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood help at the death.
M. Chinnaswamy Stadium Spell
That spell came in his second game of the season, the same stretch in which he showed composure during Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s chase against Mumbai Indians. Rasikh’s best first-class score is 45*, but his impact in this run has come with the ball, not the bat.
Cheteshwar Pujara and Mark Boucher pointed to him among the breakout names shaping the business end of the tournament for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Their focus was not on a single innings; it was on how young players are holding specific jobs under pressure and keeping teams in contention.
Mark Boucher On Rasikh
Boucher drew a direct comparison between Rasikh and Sakib Hussain at Sunrisers Hyderabad, saying both have become reliable options for their sides at critical moments. He said, “Abhishek Sharma has led Sunrisers Hyderabad’s fearless approach this season. He has taken the responsibility of being consistently destructive for his side. On the other hand, Sakib Hussain has impressed with the ball through his clever changes of pace and unorthodox action, becoming a reliable option at the death. It’s very similar to what Rasikh Salam Dar has done for RCB as the third seamer, and both youngsters could prove vital as their teams look to hold on to top two spots.”
That comparison lands inside a tight playoff race. Eight teams are still in contention for four playoff spots in the TATA IPL 2026 race, and Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s value from Rasikh is that he gives the attack another pace option without forcing the team to lean only on the older pairing around him.
TATA IPL 2026 Race
Pujara used the same broadcast discussion to frame the wider young-player trend, saying, “What Urvil Patel did against LSG shows what the new crop of players can do on their day. Anshul Kamboj has also been a massive part of CSK’s revival over the last couple of weeks. Even Kartik Sharma at No. 4 has grown in stature, while those two sixes from Prashant Veer at the end showed the confidence this young group is playing with. CSK now have a bunch of ‘fearless prodigies’ who seem to be getting things right in crunch moments and they will rely heavily on them as they look to displace one of the current top four teams.”
For Royal Challengers Bengaluru, the immediate takeaway is simpler than the wider race: Rasikh has already done enough in a short span to earn the third-seamer label, and that role becomes more valuable as the playoffs fight narrows to every over at the death.
