Hazlewood will miss the first seven matches of the league for Bangalore

The Aussie and IND T20 League based-franchise Bangalore's bowler Josh Hazlewood is likely to miss the first seven matches of the 16th edition of the IND T20 league. The much-awaited cricket league is here, the 16th edition of the IND T20 League begins this Friday. Last year's defending Champions Hardik Pandya-led Gujarat franchise is all set to take on the 4-time league winners MS Dhoni-led Chennai in the opening encounter on 31st March, Friday.

However, Faf du Plessis's-led Bangalore has suffered a major setback. Some important players of the team will not be available for the opening matches against Mumbai on 2nd April Sunday for the side. According to Australia Cricket news, 32-year-old fast bowler Hazlewood will not play in the opening matches due to an Achilles injury. At the same time, dynamic and destructive batter Glenn Maxwell is also doubtful to play in the first match for Bangalore.

Hazlewood who was also part of the Border-Gavaskar trophy for both ODIs and Test series missed out on all matches against India due to an injury, he has played 24 matches to date in his IND T20 League career and Hazlewood took 32 wickets, with an average of 22.94, conceding nearly 8.02 runs per over with a best individual figure of 4/25 which came against Lucknow. In the IND T20 League Auction 2023, the BLR franchise acquired the services of Hazlewood for Rs 7.75 Cr.

On the other hand, it is difficult for Glenn Maxwell to play in the first match against Mumbai. The power-hitting all-rounder is still not fully recovered from the leg injury. Maxwell had injured his leg in November. According to Australia's national selector George Bailey, he is experiencing a quicker recovery from injury than expected. 

After the injury, Maxwell returned to the ODI series against India but was able to play only one match. Now he is also sure to be out of the team in the match against 5-time league winners Mumbai on 2 April. After joining the Bangalore team for IND T20 League 2023, Maxwell said that it may take a few months for him to fully recover from the leg injury.