Royal Challengers Bengaluru could face a big setback in their IPL 2026 campaign, as star pacer Josh Hazlewood is still recovering from injury and it’s uncertain if he will play in the team’s opening match against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday, March 28.
Hazlewood's last cricketing outing
Hazlewood hasn’t featured in competitive cricket since the Sheffield Shield match between New South Wales and Victoria in November. Soon after, he was ruled out of the 2025-26 Ashes series due to injury.
Even though he was later included in Australia’s T20 World Cup squad, Hazlewood suffered a calf injury just five days before the opening game against Ireland. Veteran batter Steve Smith had to step in, but Australia, missing key players, crashed out of the group stage. Over the past few months, Hazlewood has been dealing with hamstring, Achilles, and calf problems.
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“He is still under physio care, and whether he plays in the IPL depends on getting medical clearance. There’s still time, but for now, it’s a wait-and-watch situation,” a source told The Hindustan Times.
RCB IPL schedule
Notably, the BCCI revealed the schedule for the first 20 matches on March 11. The full fixtures will be disclosed once the Election Commission announces the dates for the state elections.
| Match | Date | Time (IST) | Venue |
| RCB vs SRH | 28/03/26 | 7:30:00 | M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru |
| RCB vs CSK | 5/04/26 | 7:30:00 | M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru |
| RR vs RCB | 10/04/26 | 7:30:00 | Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati |
| MI vs RCB | 12/04/26 | 7:30:00 | Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai |
Will Chinnaswamy host IPL 2026 matches?
However, the matches planned in Bengaluru will depend on approval from an expert committee set up by the Karnataka government. The committee is scheduled to inspect the stadium on March 13, where a full mock drill of match-day arrangements will be conducted to check if the venue is ready to host IPL games.
RCB Full Squad for IPL 2026:
Rajat Patidar (c), Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Jacob Bethell, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Nuwan Thushara, Rasikh Salam, Abhinandan Singh, and Suyash Sharma, Venkatesh Iyer, Mangesh Yadav, Jacob Duffy, Satwik Deswal, Jordan Cox, Vihaan Malhotra, Kanishk Chouhan, Vicky Ostwal.