Unboxed late, Shepherd makes it worth the wait

It was a week before IPL 2025, at Royal Challengers Bengaluru's curtain-raiser 'Unboxed' event, when Romario Shepherd gave the Chinnaswamy Stadium a glimpse of what he had to offer. Among the light-hearted team challenges was a six-hitting contest: three balls each, longest hit wins. Shepherd turned it into a no-contest, launching two of his three deliveries clean out of the ground.

And then, he waited.

For the first seven games, Shepherd was just a name in the dugout, proof of RCB's big-hitting riches, but never their need. Liam Livingstone held a middle-order spot. Tim David had the finishing brief. When Livingstone's form stayed cold, RCB made the swap. But even then, Shepherd's only swings came in the nets.