Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra feels Royal Challengers Bengaluru must have breathed a sigh of relief after Romario Shepherd’s availability was confirmed for the remainder of the IPL 2025 season. Before IPL was suspended for a week, Shepherd scored a quickfire knock of 52 runs off just 14 balls against Chennai Super Kings.

The powerful West Indies batter smashed four fours and six maximums and took Khaleel Ahmed to the cleaners. On the other hand, Gujarat Titans have replaced Jos Buttler with Kusal Mendis for the IPL 2025 playoffs whereas Sherfane Rutherford will stay with the team.

“Gujarat Titans and RCB were a little worried. GT were slightly more worried. Of course, you have kept Kusal Mendis in place of Jos Buttler, but there is a massive difference between the two. After that, if your No. 4 Sherfane Rutherford had also gone, and Kagiso Rabada had gone from below, you would have been stuck. Rabada and Jos Buttler will go, but Sherfane Rutherford will stay,” Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.

“RCB have suddenly come together as a unit. It seems like everything is falling into place. It’s good news for RCB because if Romario Shepherd hadn’t been available after playing such a terrific knock, it would have become a bit of an issue. Then you would have been forced to play Liam Livingstone, but that’s not the case now,” he added.

RCB is at the top of the standings with eight wins in 12 games (one no result), and a total of 17 points. 

Chopra noted that Nuwan Thushara can replace Lungi Ngidi when the South African leaves for the WTC final against Australia.

“You can play Lungi Ngidi, Romario Shepherd, Phil Salt and Tim David this evening. When Lungi Ngidi goes, you can play Nuwan Thushara. At least, you are not forced to play Liam Livingstone. If he is not doing well, you can leave him out, but it would have only been possible if Romario Shepherd had stayed,” he said.

RCB’s match against KKR on Saturday was abandoned due to rain.