Josh Hazlewood took 22 wickets in 12 matches at an average of 17.55 in IPL 2025, the bowling performance that underpinned RCB’s first-ever IPL title. He has not played competitive cricket since a Sheffield Shield match in November 2025, having missed the entire Ashes with a hamstring injury before developing an Achilles problem during recovery. He is ruled out of RCB’s first two matches, the March 28 season opener against SRH and the April 5 clash against CSK. Pat Cummins has been managing a lumbar bone stress injury since July 2025, played only one Ashes Test in Adelaide in December, and has not played competitive cricket since.
What Hazlewood’s Two-Match Absence Means for RCB
Hazlewood’s hamstring injury, sustained playing for New South Wales in November 2025 , was already significant enough to rule him out of the full Ashes series. The Achilles problem that developed during his hamstring rehabilitation extended the timeline further and ruled him out of the T20 World Cup. His possible return date of around April 10 to 11 means RCB face their first three matches without the bowler, whose 22 wickets in 12 matches last season made their attack the most consistently dangerous in the competition.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar leads RCB’s bowling in Hazlewood’s absence. His swing in the powerplay provides the new-ball threat Hazlewood would have provided, but his economy rate through the middle overs and death phase does not replicate Hazlewood’s 17.55 average from last season. Jacob Duffy and Nuwan Thushara provide the overseas pace cover, but neither brings the IPL track record that Hazlewood’s title-winning campaign established. RCB’s bowling unit opens the season operating one level below its optimal combination.
How Cummins’ Back Injury Creates Both Bowling and Leadership Problems
Cummins’ lumbar bone stress injury is the more structurally complicated absence of the two because it removes both a bowling option and a captaincy framework simultaneously. His injury was first identified during Australia’s Caribbean tour in July 2025, flared during the Ashes, and has left him without competitive cricket since December. No confirmed return date means SRH cannot plan around a specific match for his reintegration.
Ishan Kishan is expected to captain SRH in Cummins’ absence, with Abhishek Sharma also in the conversation. Both are established IPL performers, but neither has captained a franchise in the IPL’s main competition. The tactical decision-making that Cummins provides, bowling rotations, field placements under pressure, and the specific authority that a World Cup-winning captain brings to crunch moments cannot be directly replaced by a batter stepping into the role for the first time.
Why IPL 2026 Match One on March 28 Features Neither Team at Full Strength
The specific irony of the IPL 2026 schedule is that RCB vs SRH on March 28 at Chinnaswamy, the tournament’s opening match, the highest-profile fixture of the first week, features both teams simultaneously missing their primary overseas pace option. Hazlewood confirmed absent for RCB. Cummins confirmed absent for SRH. The match that opens the entire competition is contested between two depleted bowling attacks.
Brydon Carse, Shivam Mavi, and Jaydev Unadkat provide SRH’s pace cover in Cummins’ absence. The combination gives the captain bowling options across different phases but not the specific IPL pedigree that Cummins brings across all twenty overs. For both teams, the opening match is effectively a test of depth before their headline Australian pacers are available to provide the combination their respective squads were built around.
Both return timelines remain subject to medical clearance rather than fixed dates. Cricket Australia are monitoring both players carefully, given Australia’s packed international calendar across the next 18 months, a consideration that may influence the urgency of their rehabilitation timetables beyond the immediate IPL context.
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