After a disturbing performance against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in M. Chinnaswamy, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) are now up against the same opponent, Punjab Kings, in their home ground, which is now Mullanpur Stadium. Unlike their home matches, RCB has achieved a very good winning record in their away games. To enhance their out-of-home winning ratio and to get back on the winning ways, Bengaluru has decided to play Romario Shepherd in place of Liam Livingstone. But why is the team management showing trust in the Caribbean over the T20 specialist Livingstone? 

Livingstone, from the beginning of the IPL 2025, is an integral part of the red and black squad, playing 7 matches so far but barely able to justify his name. 

The English batter is mostly known for his power-hitting skills, but for RCB, he was far away from his peak performance. In 6 innings, the right-handed batter welcomed only 87 runs in total, including a 54-run inning, 17.40 on average. Even with the ball in hand, Liam underperformed—2 wickets in 5 innings.

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Royal Challengers Bengaluru needs someone on the field who can make some quick runs and support the bowling dependent as well. So, they choose to go with Romario Shepherd. The West Indian all-rounder has played plenty of cricket in subcontinent conditions, especially in franchise cricket. 

Romario's performance

The bowling all-rounder had a decent outing with Mumbai Indians (MI) in IPL 2024, played a crucial unbeaten 39-run innings, and, overall, averaged 28.50 with MI, powered by an exceptional strike rate of 271.42. In the Caribbean Premier League, the 30-year-old all-rounder batted with a 161.04 strike rate, and in the Bangladesh Premier League, he recorded a 152.54 strike rate as a batter. 

Along with his big hitting skills, Shepherd's ability as a bowler is appreciable—72 wickets in CPL, 13 wickets in SA20, 5 wickets in BPL, and 4 wickets in IPL. 

Punjab Kings (Playing XI)

Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya, Shreyas Iyer (C), Josh Inglis (WK), Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal.

Impact players - Harpreet Brar, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Praveen Dubey, Glenn Maxwell and Suryansh Shedge.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Playing XI)

Virat Kohli, Phil Salt (WK), Rajat Patidar (C), Romario Shepherd (In for Liam Livingstone), Jitesh Sharma, Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Suyash Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal.

Impact players - Devdutt Padikkal, Rasikh Salam, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethell and Swapnil Singh.