RCB have received a massive blow ahead of their opening game against the Mumbai Indians on Sunday. Earlier, it was reported that Aussie fast bowler Josh Hazlewood could miss out on a few games due to injury. However, the latest reports reveal that it could be more than that.
Hazlewood to miss the first leg of the season
Royal Challengers Bangalore‘s Australian fast bowler, Josh Hazlewood, is set to miss at least the first leg of the upcoming IPL due to an Achilles heel problem. Although he is expected to arrive in India by April 14, he will require an additional week to regain match fitness. Thus, Hazlewood could miss at least 7 games before taking the field again.
His injury setback has dealt a blow to the team’s preparations, and RCB will have to find a way to cope without him in the initial stages of the tournament. Speaking to the Australian daily The Age, Hazlewood was quoted as saying, “Everything is ticking along according to plan, so I’ll be heading over on the 14th (of April) depending on how the next two weeks go.”
Hazlewood further added, “I probably won’t be quite ready to go right then, but (after) another week in India to touch things up skills wise I should be ready to go hopefully.”
Need one or two sessions
Hazlewood, who had opted out of the Border Gavaskar Trophy last month, said that he is feeling confident about playing the IPL and will only require about a session or two before being back in his full form. “You don’t need a lot of workload for T20. It’s more just ticking off those boxes of getting up to speed and pushing back in the run-up. I’m probably only going to need to do one or two sessions at full pace and then I’m probably good to play.”, Hazlewood was quoted as saying.
Hazlewood further spoke about the difference between T20 and other forms of cricket and said that it was relatively easier in terms of workload. “T20 is a lot different to Test and even one-day cricket. You only need 20 balls at full pace and that’s pretty close to a game, which is a good thing.”, he added.
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