Former Indian spinner Murali Kartik reckons the form of Jitesh Sharma and Jacob Bethell is a cause of concern for Royal Challengers Bengaluru amid the ongoing IPL 2026. RCB suffered a nine-run loss against Lucknow Super Giants at the Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow, while chasing a DLS target of 213, but both of these batters failed to deliver in the run chase.

While Jitesh was dismissed for a solitary run on a bouncer by Prince Yadav, Bethell was sent back by Mohammed Shami after scoring only four runs.

Bethell has scored 43 runs in four matches of IPL 2026 whereas Jitesh has managed only 64 runs in eight innings at an average of eight and a strike rate of 108.47.

“In a way, it is a good thing that there is only one batter in the batting order who is out of form. That is fine, you never know when the form will come back. Every player goes through a phase like this, unfortunately for him, it is right now,” Murali Kartik said on Cricbuzz.

Kartik said things were different for RCB when Virat Kohli and Phil Salt were opening the innings. Salt is currently out of action due to a finger injury.

“RCB have one more problem, and that is Jacob Bethell. When will Phil Salt return? Bethell has scored only 44 runs in four games, and RCB were doing well at the top before him. When Phil Salt and Virat Kohli were batting together, things were different,” he added.

On the other hand, former Indian batter Rohan Gavaskar was asked if RCB erred by sending Jitesh Sharma ahead of power-hitter like Tim David.

“Jitesh Sharma’s form is not good, but he got out early, and he did not waste too many balls. He came into bat after a good partnership, so I would say it was okay to bring him on at that stage. When you have such a skillful player like Jitesh who is not in form, you don’t want him to come at the end. At that stage, you need Tim David,” Rohan Gavaskar opined.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru will next take on Mumbai Indians at Raipur on Sunday.