Vettori back in Royal Challengers Bangalore fold

BANGALORE: Royal Challengers Bangalore received a shot in the arm ahead of their crucial final league fixture against Chennai Super Kings on Sunday and the play-off phase with their skipper Daniel Vettori rejoining the squad on Thursday night.
Vettori, whose recurrent knee injury had flared up during the season, headed to New Zealand for consulting his personal physician last week.Contrary to earlier media reports, the injury was not serious enough to warrant a surgery and the Kiwi is seemingly set to feature in the Sunday game where a victory would assure the Bangalore side a top-two finish and an automatic qualification for the Champions League T20.
The experienced Vettori is by far the best bowler for RCB in the season in terms of consistency and economy. Virat Kohli had captained the side in the absence of the Kiwi in the last three matches but the left-arm spinner's absence was quite evident in the previous outing against Kings XI Punjab, who piled up a edition record total of 232 en route to a 111-run drubbing of RCB at Dharamsala.
On Friday, Vettori joined his teammates for the practice session at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium main ground some 30 minutes late. Though he didn't bowl against batsmen at the nets, he turned his arm over aiming at a single stump. Later, he spent around 30 minutes batting at the nets before folding up his training for the day.
Though sources confirmed that Vettori is raring to go and will be in action on Sunday, it remains to be seen whether the team management will take a late call not to risk the key weapon ahead of the play-offs. However, the aim of a top-two finish may force the think-tank to include Vettori for the potential high-intensity clash against defending champions Chennai.
It may be recalled that Vettori was troubled by the knee injury during the World Cup and the announcement of him as the skipper was delayed till the eleventh hour by the franchisee, apparently after confirming his availability. Though the skipper has contributed immensely in terms of captaincy and his left-arm spin, he looked hardly comfortable with his movements on the field and was hesitant to commit himself to dives and fast-paced sprints.
Another good news for RCB is Zaheer Khan's return to full fitness. The pace spearhead had missed the last match against Kings XI Punjab and is likely to return to the eleven in the next clash. Zaheer, however, didn't participate in the nets session on Friday and devoted his time at NCA.
Meanwhile, RCB's young batsman Cheteshwar Pujara in all likelihood will miss the rest of the IPL season due to a knee injury. The Saurashtra right-hander injured himself during the contest against Pune Warriors on April 29 and will require another two weeks of rehabilitation at NCA.
Pujara, who had undergone a surgery to his left knee last year, has injured his right but apparently the injury is not as serious. A surgery is unlikely even as he is under observation of both the RCB and NCA physios. In all probability, he will be available for selection for the Test series in the Caribbean with the first of the three-match series starting on June 20.