IPL 2026: Why is Josh Hazlewood not playing RCB vs SRH Match 1?

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) take on the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the opening game of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026.

RCB come into the season as defending champions, after lifting their much-awaited maiden title in 2025. They will be looking to maintain the formula from last season, carrying on from the previous edition. The Sunrisers come in with the expectations of bettering last season's sixth-placed finish. Both teams will be without their star Australian quicks, with Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins yet to be cleared to play.

Toss Update

Rajat Patidar, captain of RCB won the toss and opted to field first, speaking of the pressure of the "defending champions" tag and the injuries in the squad. Ishan Kishan, who is standing in as skipper for Pat Cummins, wanted to field first as well, and trusts his team to back their instincts.

Josh Hazlewood misses out, Jacob Duffy to play

Hazlewood last played cricket in November and missed the Ashes and T20 World Cup with ankle, calf and Achilles issues. He has joined the squad but is yet to be cleared to play. In his absence, Jacob Duffy of New Zealand is to make his debut. The Sunrisers Hyderabad team sees the new face of Salil Arora, an exciting batter from the domestic circuit.

What did the captains say?

Rajat Patidar (RCB)

It is a season opener, so let's see how the wicket behaves. There are a lot of positives from last season. We are not defending anything, we will win in IPL 2026 as well. [Injuries] There are a lot of good players in the side and the backup players are great as well. All players are fit and the medical staff is looking after the players. [Message to fans] Thank You so much for supporting. We will try and win this again. There are two news faces, Jacob and Abhinandan are playing.

Ishan Kishan (SRH)

Feeling good, and we wanted to field first as well. We want to back our instincts. [How to go about the season?] You don't have to start some thing new just because it is IPL. We just want to execute our plans. Obviously Pat is one of the best bowlers, but everyone looks in good touch and I feel we will be on the winning side. [New faces] Salil [Arora] is there, and just want him to keep things simple and trust his instincts.

Playing 11s

Royal Challengers Bengaluru 

Virat Kohli, Philip Salt, Rajat Patidar (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Abhinandan Singh, Jacob Duffy, Suyash Sharma

Impact Players: Devdutt Padikkal, Jacob Bethell, Rasikh Dar, Kanishk Chouhan, Venkatesh Iyer

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (c/wk), Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Salil Arora, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Eshan Malinga

Impact Players: Shivang Kumar, Liam Livingstone, David Payne, Smaran Ravichandran, Sakib Hussain