Encouraging fitness updates on Australian pace bowling champions Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood have been delivered by their teams on the eve of the Indian Premier League launch in Bengaluru.
Neither Cummins, captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad, nor Hazlewood, the key strike bowler for champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru, will play in the 2026 edition’s opener on Saturday as their recovery from injury is being carefully managed.
But both will attend the opener at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium and look set to play a big role for the teams later in the two-month tournament, with Cummins’ fitness described as “exceptional” and Hazlewood tipped to be thrust into the action soon.
Sunrisers head coach Daniel Vettori told reporters on Friday that the side, temporarily under the leadership af Ishan Kishan, “can lean” on Cummins’ experience until he’s ready for the fray after his back stress fracture that’s limited him to just one match – the Adelaide Ashes Test – since August..
“His fitness has been exceptional because he’s obviously been out of the game for an extended period of time so he’s had that time to work on that fitness, a real block of work around strength and conditioning,” Vettori said.
“It’s obviously a bit of a painstaking process to get the loads up to where he feels confident and strong about bowling.
“But fitness is good, so over the course of the next couple of weeks he’ll keep building and hopefully we can get a definitive timeline, probably in the next 10, 12 days around when he can return to play.”
RCB’s coach Andy Flower reported: “Hazlewood arrived yesterday. He’s looking fit. I did comment to him that he looks even younger than I remember him, so he’s enjoyed some good downtime, but he’s worked hard to get himself back up to full fitness.
“It’s great to have him here. It’s even great to have him here in our dressing room and in the meetings. He won’t be ready for tomorrow, because he’s just got off the plane, and we’ll be monitoring his fitness very closely and looking forward to him making his entrance into the IPL.”
The opening match will be an emotional affair as RCB, who lifted their maiden title in 2025, return to their home ground nine months since their title celebrations ended in tragedy outside the stadium when a stampede claimed 11 lives.
“It was very satisfying professionally for everyone, of course, but a really emotional time for all sorts of reasons at the end of last season,” Flower said.
RCB have decided to keep 11 seats in one of the stadium’s stands unoccupied as a “quiet tribute to the memory” of those who died last June.
