In their inaugural match of the current Indian Premier League (IPL) season, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and the five-time champion Mumbai Indians are scheduled to square off on Sunday. Nevertheless, they had difficulties with player availability in the run-up to the game for a variety of reasons. Wanindu Hasaranga has not yet arrived since he is on national service, but Josh Hazlewood is expected to miss the first half of the season. Glenn Maxwell, their star all-rounder, was also questionable for the match against MI. Nonetheless, the Australian cricketer is totally healthy and available, according to RCB head coach Sanjay Bangar.
Maxwell was out of commission after being hurt during a birthday celebration. He returned for the ODI series last month against India, but he sat out the last two games. Although Maxwell’s availability resolves many of RCB’s problems, a recent development indicates that Rajat Patidar, the team’s crucial number three hitter, would likely miss at least the first half of the season.
Bangar expressed optimism that Patidar will participate at some point in the IPL 2023 and said that the National Cricket Academy (NCA) would make a decision on him. Before the MI match, Bangar said, “As far as Rajat goes, at this point he’s out of our control. At the NCA he’s sort of undergoing treatment in that particular academy and we are still waiting for the clarifications from him. And once we get the clarifications, our media team will certainly keep you in the loop. It might also be the case that the NCA will take a very sporting decision on what he does or what his future holds.
He also discussed how Josh Hazlewood is still recovering from his injury and how satisfied he is with the team’s substitute player. “We are happy to secure the services of Reece Topley, who provides a like-for-like replacement for Josh and having factored in that, that sort of gives us a good cover. I am sure his left-arm bowling option will add to the bowling group. We sort of anticipated it and it was factored in the auction or pre-auction meeting,” Bangar continued.
