In what comes as a big blow for Royal Challengers Bangalore, Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out of the RCB vs GT clash. Hazlewood has suffered a relapse in the injury. He is going back home and is doubtful for WTC Final 2023. Follow IPL 2023 LIVE Updates on InsideSport.IN.
RCB must win the match against Gujarat Titans to qualify for the IPL 2023 playoffs. On the other hand, Hazlewood’s priority is to be fit by the WTC Final.
Hazlewood missed RCB’s first eight games and only featured in three matches. He has not played any games since May 9 against Mumbai Indians. The pacer was recovering from an Achilles heel injury and returned home midway through the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
RCB are already without David Willey and Reece Topley who both returned home following injuries. Josh Hazlewood is another edition.
Josh Hazlewood injury: How costly will it be for RCB?
RCB are in a must-win situation with Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals lurking. With GT and CSK already qualifying for the playoffs, the race has been narrowed down to Sunday. The two games on Sunday will decide the fate of playoffs. In absence of a pace spearhead at a batting heaven like M Chinnaswamy Stadium, RCB will start on the backfoot against a dominating Gujarat Titans line-up.
How can RCB qualify?
- Faf du Plessis & Co have 14 points from 13 games with 7 wins and 6 losses.
- To earn a spot in the IPL playoffs in 2023, RCB must win against GT.
- RCB must also hope that LSG lose to KKR and Mumbai Indians lose to SRH for an easy route to the playoffs.
- If LSG win against KKR and MI win against SRH, it will come down to Net Run Rate.
- LSG will seal the 3rd spot with a win and hence the race for the 4th spot will be between MI and RCB.
- If RCB win, they will qualify based on a better NRR.
- If MI win by a big margin, RCB must topple MI in NRR.
Meanwhile, The Australian team will leave for London for the Oval final on May 27. It is unlikely that Hazlewood will be fit by then. Hence, the Aussie quick will join the squad later.
