Josh Hazlewood (Photo Source: Twitter)

Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Australian fast bowler Josh Hazlewood is set to miss the first seven matches of his team as he is still recovering from his Achilles injury. The Australian pacer, who is currently in Australia, is likely to join the RCB camp in mid-April and won’t be available for selection until the third week of the month. 

RCB’s IPL 2023 campaign is under threat after a series of injury concerns to their star players. Initially, it was Will Jacks, who was ruled out of the upcoming edition of the tournament, followed by injury issues to star pacer Josh Hazlewood and last year’s breakout star Rajat Patidar. 

Hazlewood, who sustained an Achilles injury earlier this year and missed the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, has given a time frame for his return to action. The Australian pacer revealed that he will be travelling to India for IPL 2023 on April 14 and is hoping to take the field by the third week of April.

“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. 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 was quoted as saying by The Age.

I’m probably only going to need to do one or two sessions at full pace: Hazlewood

Talking about his workload management, the star pacer reckoned it is easier to manage in the shortest format of the game as a bowler needs to be at his best for 20 odd deliveries, unlike ODIs and Tests. Hazlewood also revealed that his injury will take time to heal but participating in the 16th edition of the IPL will help him prepare for the Ashes later this year.

“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.

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 added.