Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Royal Challengers Bengaluru said that their pace spearhead, Australia's speedster Josh Hazlewood, will join the team for IPL 2026 only after Cricket Australia is fully satisfied with his recovery from injury.
RCB’s director of cricket, Mo Bobat, explained that the franchise is in regular touch with Cricket Australia and medical teams while Hazlewood continues his rehab in Australia.
The 35-year-old has been out of action since November, when he suffered a hamstring injury during a Sheffield Shield match. He also missed the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 because he could not fully recover in time.
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Bobat on Josh Hazlewood's availability
Bobat said Hazlewood is still under the care of Cricket Australia and is likely to miss the start of the new season. There is no confirmed date yet for his return.
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“As most people would know, Josh has missed quite a bit of cricket recently with injuries," Bobat said on Tuesday. “He’s currently working through a return-to-play programme in Australia, and we are liaising closely with Cricket Australia and our medical teams on a daily basis."
He added that the bowler will travel to India only when Cricket Australia clears him.
“We’ll continue to communicate with them, and as soon as he gets to a point where Cricket Australia are happy, he’ll come over, and we hope to have him with us very soon," he said.
RCB on Yash Dayal
Even without Hazlewood, and with pacer Yash Dayal unavailable this season for personal reasons, Bobat said the team has enough options in their pace attack.
“We have some excellent domestic fast bowlers in our squad. Rasik, who you know many of you will know, Abhinandan, who we had with us last year, and then we also signed Mangesh in this auction, so domestically we have three excellent potential options there that could replace him," he said.
RCB will start their title defence on March 28 against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.