By Zainab Shafiq 
Australian fast bowler Josh Hazlewood is set to miss the first seven matches of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign in 2023 as he continues to recover from an Achilles injury. The star pacer, who is currently in Australia, is expected to join the RCB camp in mid-April but won’t be available for selection until the third week of the month.
RCB’s IPL 2023 campaign has already been hit by injury concerns to several of their star players, including Will Jacks, who has been ruled out of the tournament. Hazlewood, who missed the Border-Gavaskar Trophy due to his injury, has given a timeline for his return to action. The Australian pacer revealed that he will be traveling to India for IPL 2023 on April 14 and hopes to take the field by the third week of April after an additional week of training.
Despite his injury, Hazlewood remains optimistic about his prospects, stating that he only needs one or two sessions at full pace to be ready for T20 cricket. He believes that workload management is easier in the shortest format of the game, where a bowler needs to be at their best for only 20 deliveries, unlike in ODIs and Tests. The star pacer also hopes that participating in IPL 2023 will help him prepare for the Ashes later this year.
“It’s a niggly one, the Achilles tendon. It’s a slow process but it thrives on a bit of work, and I’d have to be bowling to prepare for the Ashes, so it may as well be in a game of cricket,” said Hazlewood.
Hazlewood’s absence from the RCB side will undoubtedly be a blow, but the team will hope to have him fully fit and firing by the time he returns to action. In the meantime, the team will need to rely on their other players to step up and fill the void left by the star pacer.
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