Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) are without Josh Hazlewood in their marquee 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL) clash against Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai as the Rajat Patidar team is aiming to return to winning ways. The defending champions suffered their first defeat of the season against Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Friday (April 10) in Guwahati.
The ace pacer made a comeback to competitive cricket for the first time since November during the defeat against RR. Hazelwood did not have the best outing, as Vaibhav Sooryavanshi scored 18 runs off him on the first four balls he faced. The Australian cricket legend still managed to take two wickets with the big dismissals of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Riyan Parag. He conceded 44 runs in four overs.
Why Is Josh Hazlewood Not Playing?
There is no official statement by RCB on the reason behind Hazlewood’s change, and there are no reports on another injury so far. One would assume that the 35-year-old’s fitness is being managed after a long time on the sidelines, and two games in three days at this stage might have been a risk.
Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya(c), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Trent Boult, Mayank Markande, Jasprit Bumrah.
MI Impact Sub: Sherfane Rutherford, Corbin Bosch, Ashwani Kumar, Raghu Sharma, Raj Bawa
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Playing XI): Philip Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar(c), Tim David, Jitesh Sharma(w), Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Duffy, Suyash Sharma
RCB Impact Sub: Rasikh Salam Dar, Venkatesh Iyer, Jacob Bethell, Swapnil Singh, Mangesh Yadav
