Romario Shepherd, Liam Livingstone rejoin RCB squad ahead of remainder of IPL 2025

NEW DELHI: West Indies all-rounder Romario Shepherd and England’s Liam Livingstone have returned to India and rejoined the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) squad earlier on Wednesday, according to ESPNcricinfo.

On May 8,the BCCI suspended the cash-rich league for a week in the wake of the cross-border tensions between India and Pakistan. After the cessation of hostilities, the IPL is set to resume on May 17 with Royal Challengers Bengaluru squaring off against the defending champions, Kolkata Knight Riders, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Shepherd was accompanied by his national duo, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) mentor Dwayne Bravo. Shepherd is also the part of West Indies ODI squad for their upcoming tour in England, which will be starting from May 29, and the schedule of the series will clash with Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 playoffs.

As of now, there is no clarification from the Cricket West Indies about Shepherd’s participation in the league after May 29. England’s Liam Livingstone has also linked up with RCB while Jacob Bethell has already rejoined the team. Bethell has also been named for England’s upcoming home white ball series against the Caribbean side,where as Livingstone has been dropped from both the ODI and T20I sides.

The England Cricket Board (ECB) had granted no-objection certificates (NOCs) to all their players participating in IPL till May 25, the original date of the IPL 2025 final. As a result, Bethell was not named in England’s squad for the four-day Test match against Zimbabwe that starts May 29, according to ESPNcricinfo.

For now, there is no clarity of RCB fast bowlers Josh Hazlewood and Lungi Ngidi, to rejoin in IPL. Ngidi is also featured in the test squad of World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia in June. RCB is currently placed on second with 16 points, with eight wins and three defeat.(ANI)