Royal Challengers Bangalore are set to kick-start their Indian Premier League campaign against the Mumbai Indians on April 2, Sunday. Ahead of their opening game, the news about their star fast bowler Josh Hazlewood's participation has come. Josh who is likely to take another week to be fit to play a match, will arrive in India by the 14th of April and will miss the initial matches.
While Hazlewood is set to miss at least 7 matches due to an Achilles (heel) problem, his Australian teammate Glenn Maxwell is doubtful for RCB's opening match as he is yet to fully regain strength post-leg fracture.
"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 was quoted.
"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."
Hazlewood, who had to opt out of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in India, is hoping to get ready for the Ashes after playing IPL.
"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.
"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 said.
However, Hazlewood is still waiting for medical clearance from Cricket Australia.
"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," Hazlewood said.
