Why is Josh Hazlewood Not Playing Today’s IPL 2023 Match Between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore?

Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Faf du Plessis has won the toss and chose to bowl for the second time in a row in the ongoing 16th season of the Indian Premier League. Playing their first away match of the season against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens tonight, du Plessis pointed out how dew could affect proceedings in the second innings.

“Going to have a bowl. Was dew last night. Hoping it will get skiddy in the second innings. Today is a completely new game. Really motivated to put in a good performance,” du Plessis told host broadcaster Star Sports Network at the toss.

Much like the visiting captain, captain of the home team Nitish Rana also wanted to bowl first on Thursday due to the same reason. Unlike their match against Punjab Kings in Mohali on Saturday, Knight Riders will be batting first in their first home match in the last four years.

Why is Josh Hazlewood Not Playing Today vs Kolkata Knight Riders?

With pacer Reece Topley dislocating his right shoulder in their season opener against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday, Royal Challengers have had to make a forced change to their Playing XI. Hence, Topley’s English teammate David Willey, a like-for-like bowling replacement who can also contribute with the bat in hand, has been included into the Playing XI.

If truth be told, Bangalore didn’t have any other option to replace an overseas pacer because Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood is yet to reach India. Having suffered an achilles tendonitis injury during Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 earlier in the year, Hazlewood hasn’t recovered from it at this point in time.

UPDATE: RCB head coach Sanjay Bangar has confirmed to Star Sports that Hazlewood will reach India on April 14. The 32-year old player will undergo a couple of training sessions with the team before returning to competitive cricket after more than three months.

KKR, meanwhile, have also made one change to their Playing XI as left-arm spinner Anukul Roy has been replaced by right-arm mystery spinner Suyash Sharma. Apart from there being mystery about his craft, there’s also a lot of mystery around this 19-year old player who hasn’t played any representative match thus far.