Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) will once again be without the services of their ace pacer Josh Hazlewood in the game against Mumbai Indians (MI) on Sunday. After missing the first two games, the defending champions’ highest wicket-taker returned in the previous game against RR but proved to be quite expensive. While captain Rajat Patidar did not explain why Hazlewood is missing the clash against MI, it is suspected that the team doesn’t want to take the risk, given that he has just come back from injury.
RCB playing XI vs MI
Philip Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar(c), Tim David, Jitesh Sharma(w), Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Duffy, Suyash Sharma
Impact subs: Rasikh Salam Dar, Venkatesh Iyer, Jacob Bethell, Swapnil Singh, Mangesh Yadav
Speaking at the toss, RCB captain Patidar – without divulging much information – just stated that Jacob Duffy will replace Hazlewood in the playing XI for the game against MI. The Australian pacer finished as RCB’s leading wicket-taker in IPL 2025. With 22 wickets from 12 matches, Hazlewood was not only the spearhead of RCB’s pace department but was also their go-to bowler when the team needed wickets. He averaged 17.54 with the ball. He was out of action for multiple months since the start of the Ashes last year, owing to an Achilles Heel injury followed by other developments.
He registered figures of 2/44 on his return to competitive cricket in the game against RR. However, after playing just one game, RCB have decided to rest Hazlewood. RCB have made just one change to their playing XI.
Jacob Duffy has played all three matches for RCB so far in IPL 2026, and has taken 5 wickets at an average of 16.00.
MI playing XI vs RCB
Mumbai Indians have made two changes to their playing XI for the contest against, with Mayank Markande and Mitchell Santner coming in for Deepak Chahar and Allah Ghazanfar.
Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya(c), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Trent Boult, Mayank Markande, Jasprit Bumrah
Impact Subs: Sherfane Rutherford, Corbin Bosch, Ashwani Kumar, Raghu Sharma, Raj Bawa
