New Delhi: All eyes are glued to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as it mulls over restarting the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 following a temporary suspension due to the India-Pakistan border tensions. However, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) continue to deal with the injury concerns of pace spearhead Josh Hazlewood and even skipper Rajat Patidar.
Hazlewood has been the key to RCB’s rampant run in the current IPL season, having picked 18 wickets in 10 games, and is third in the Purple Cap race. The Aussie quick went down with a shoulder niggle and didn’t feature in RCB’s home clash against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on May 3. He was also uncertain about the team’s next clash before the tournament was suspended with immediate effect on May 9.
He has reportedly left India for home amid the tense situation in the country, and there have been reports of him being highly unlikely to return for RCB if the IPL resumes. With the World Test Championship (WTC) final around the corner (a month later), it is understood that he would prefer staying back to warm up before the summit clash.
He had undergone intense rehabilitation earlier this year to recover from a string of injuries, including the one he endured during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He was using IPL as a platform to regain his rhythm before the monumental WTC final. Despite his progress, Cricket Australia (CA) is expected to take a precautionary approach.
The Aussies have a pre-WTC final conditioning camp scheduled in England in early June, and his inclusion in the Test squad goes without saying, which makes a return to the IPL unnecessary. If this comes true, RCB will be forced to pick a replacement, someone close to his calibre, if not equal, from the RAPP pool, which has recently come into much use for several teams.
The Rajat Patidar factor
For the uninitiated, several reports have claimed that IPL 2025 might begin from May 16 or 17, which stands true to the “week” suspension as announced by the BCCI. This puts Rajat Patidar, another injury concern for RCB, in a race against time to get fit for RCB’s maiden title quest. He is currently recovering from a finger injury that he sustained while fielding during RCB’s home game against CSK on May 3.
Had IPL 2025 not been suspended, he was set to miss at least two games for RCB, but the tournament’s temporary pause came as a blessing, as it has given him at least a week’s time to regain complete fitness and not miss any games further. He has accumulated 239 runs for RCB in 11 matches so far.
Apart from these two players, RCB dealt with several other injuries before them this season. Opening batter Phil Salt was down with illness and had to be replaced by Jacob Bethell, while Devdutt Padikkal was ruled out of the remainder of the season with a hamstring pull and got replaced in the squad by Mayank Agarwal. Despite all these setbacks, RCB hold on to the second spot in the points table with eight wins and three losses in 11 games.
With reports of IPL 2025 set to resume this week, RCB still deals with the injury setback of Josh Hazlewood whose return for RCB is highly unlikely, reportedly. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
