In a massive boost to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), the overseas duo of Romario Shepherd and Liam Livingstone has rejoined the franchise ahead of the IPL 2025 resumption on Saturday (May 17).

With the tournament restarting following a nine-day suspension due to escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, the RCB receives this morale-pushing news amid foreign players' logistical concerns surrounding the international calendar.

Shepherd is among a handful of West Indies players who returned to India alongside the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) duo of Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and their mentor, Dwayne Bravo. While Shepherd is part of West Indies' white-ball squad for the away England series starting May 29 - the day IPL 2025 gets underway, Cricket West Indies (CWI) is yet to clarify if all those picked for the international series leave the IPL 2025 midway.

On the other hand, Livingstone has also rejoined the franchise, which sits in second place on the points table with 16 points from 11 contested matches. Liam's England teammate Jacob Bethell has already rejoined the team; though the rookie all-rounder is part of the England squad for the home series against WI, the ECB dropped Liam from both ODI and T20I squads.

Bethell will remain available for RCB's next two matches - against KKR and SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) - but fly home before the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) tie. Per the latest reports, the ECB and several other boards decided against extending NOCs to their players beyond the decided date earlier (May 25) to honour international commitments.

No words on the overseas pace duo

On the other hand, the RCB awaits confirmation on its overseas pace duo of Josh Hazlewood and Lungi Ngidi.

Hazlewood is nursing a shoulder niggle he suffered earlier this month and would have missed the tournament anyway had it not been interrupted. Ngidi, who made his RCB debut against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and is also part of South Africa's WTC Final squad against Australia, might remain available for just two matches before linking with the South Africa squad.

The WTC-bound South African players will leave the IPL by May 25.

Meanwhile, Phil Salt, who missed the last two games for the franchise due to illness, will remain available for the remainder of the tournament. He is part of the T20I squad against the West Indies, which begins June 6, three days after the IPL 2025 final.