Yash Dayal won’t feature for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. The left-arm fast bowler from Uttar Pradesh has been accused of sexual assault by two different women, one of whom was a minor at the time.
RCB benches Yash Dayal for IPL 2026
Mo Bobat, Director of Cricket at RCB, confirmed the development in the pre-season press conference. “Just to confirm that Yash will not be joining the squad. As you know, he’s going through a personal situation. And just to clarify, we’ve been very supportive of Yash to date. And that’s reflected in the fact that we retained him when we had the opportunity to either retain or release players. We wanted to retain him. And he remains under contract and will continue to, in the short term, be foreseeable to remain under contract.
We are communicating with him regularly, and I spoke to him earlier today as well. But it’s been decided that it is not in his best interest, or the franchise’s best interest, for him to join RCB at this point,” Bobat told reporters in Bengaluru.
Rape allegations against Yash Dayal
Dayal hasn’t played any form of cricket since he was first accused in June 2025, when a former partner accused Dayal of sexual exploitation under the pretext of marriage. He was accused of mental, physical, and financial exploitation. In July 2025, another woman accused the fast bowler of rape in Jaipur. This accusation was much more serious.
The victim alleged he exploited her for around two-and-a-half years, starting from when she was 17, under the promise of helping her cricket career. Dayal was booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO). Back in December 2025, his bail was rejected after credible evidence was found, with the victim’s lawyer presenting images, videos, conversations, and call records as evidence of emotionally blackmailing and raping her at various hotels in Jaipur and Kanpur.
Dayal’s lawyer, Kunal Jaiman, had denied claims of him meeting the alleged victim in private places like hotels and stated that it was the victim who presented herself as an adult and took money from Dayal. Despite these arguments, Dayal’s bail was rejected. If found guilty, the fast bowler could serve a prison sentence of over 10 years.
No cricket since June 2025
In the aftermath of the accusations, Dayal wasn’t picked to feature for Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy, the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the Vijay Hazare Trophy, or the Uttar Pradesh Premier League. Despite the serious accusations, RCB retained him for INR 5 crore going into the IPL 2026 auction, for which they received a lot of flak.
Dayal had been posting clips of him training, which suggested his return to competitive cricket. But the 28-year-old had joined RCB training camps. This raised suspicions, as he wasn’t yet cleared by the court. That’s why RCB has decided to stay away from controversy and bench Dayal for IPL 2026.
Last month, Dayal also tied the knot with a social media content creator, Shweta Pundir, in a secret ceremony. Some have alleged that it’s an attempt to clean his image.
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