Josh Hazlewood, the lead pacer for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, acknowledged on Friday that his delayed entry into the 2026 Indian Premier League due to the recovery process was difficult for him, but at 35, he had to deal with ailments and respect the time needed to return to the pitch.
After a 151-day absence, Hazlewood returned to the field during RCB’s game against Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati last week. Hazlewood had been recovering from many injuries since November 2025.
“I think this time around it was quite a long time out of the game. It was tough being at home doing rehab while cricket is going on, in particular an Ashes and a World Cup. So, I was keen to get back as soon as I could for IPL, but at the same time not rush it,” PTI quoted Hazlewood as saying ahead of the match against Delhi Capitals in Bengaluru.
Hazlewood claimed that earlier this year, during the last stages of the Ashes or the T20 World Cup, he did attempt a comeback.
“It wasn’t a stress fracture. But I think just the hamstring first, followed by, you know, tendon. It wasn’t Achilles, it was sort of the FHL tendon next to it, and then a torn calf. So, just a few things crept in.
“I think mostly through probably trying to rush back a little bit, trying to make it to the fourth or fifth Ashes Test or the World Cup. But it’s probably just that respect injuries, particularly once you’re at the wrong side of 30s. It’s just about respecting that time frame or the time that it takes to get back. And playing at this intensity (in the IPL) I think is obviously quite high.
“So, that’s sort of how we’ve planned — to miss the first two (matches) and then play a game (vs RR), and then obviously game four was so quickly back up to miss that and then play again (vs LSG). So fingers crossed, our schedule is pretty good now,” he added.
After two games, how does he assess his physical condition and preparedness for a match? RR’s teenage wonder Vaibhav Sooryavanshi tore Hazlewood to pieces, but he made a fantastic return against Lucknow with a 4-0-20-1 spell that won him Player of the Match.
“I ticked off everything I possibly could, I even probably had a few more sessions here than what I probably felt that I needed to be ready. I probably felt four or five days before playing that Rajasthan game that I was ready for.
“Yeah, that intensity is, in particular for T20, your volume doesn’t have to be huge at training, it’s just reaching that intensity that the game demands. So, that’s probably the biggest thing to tick off at training in the last four weeks leading into this tournament, which I felt like I did as best I could,” he noted.
