‘Virat Kohli on top of his game,’ says Andy Flower:Hazlewood out for season opener; Vettori provides Pat Cummins’ update

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) head coach Andy Flower has confirmed that Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out of the IPL 2026 opening match against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). The Australian pacer had joined the RCB camp just a day ago. For the first time in IPL history, RCB will start the season as defending champions, having had an incredible run up to the trophy last year. The iconic Chinnaswamy Stadium will host the RCB vs SRH IPL 2026 opener. Josh Hazlewood ‘won’t be ready’ says Andy Flower Speaking to the media ahead of the IPL opener, Flower confirmed that Hazlewood, despite his timely arrival, will not be featuring against the Sunrisers. “Hazlewood did arrive yesterday. He’s looking fit. I did comment to him that he looks even younger than I remember him,” Flower said. “But he’s worked hard to get himself back up to full fitness. We’ve been liaising closely with Cricket Australia on his fitness. And he’s arrived on time. So, it’s great to have him here. He won’t be ready for tomorrow,” the RCB head coach added. Hazlewood had sustained a hamstring strain in the Sheffield Shield before the Ashes and later, experienced Achilles soreness. He was subsequently ruled out of the T20 World Cup, where Australia suffered a rare group stage exit. Hazlewood, however, was seen doing some light training during RCB’s practice session before the IPL 2026 opener. Meanwhile, RCB have suffered another injury blow through Nuwan Thusara, who has not been granted NOC (No Objection Certificate) by Sri Lanka Cricket as he is not fully fit. ‘Virat Kohli top of his game’ Flower also heaped praise on Virat Kohli, who he said was at the top of his game. The right-hander has been the highest run-scorer for RCB in the past two seasons and last year, hit 657 runs in 15 matches with eight fifties while striking at 144.71. “I’ve been watching really closely (Kohli batting at nets), he looks on top of his game, he looks super fit. I was watching him do shuttles the other day. He looks light on his feet, very fit, very lean, very hungry,” Flower said. “He’s always been very hungry and determined and I think that mental and emotional space that he’s in, where he’s very comfortable with himself as a person, but he’s also very hungry to drive himself as a professional sportsperson, “the RCB head coach added. Flower then drew a Sachin Tendulkar reference while speaking on Kohli returning to action for the first time since the ODI series against New Zealand earlier this year. “We have chatted about that (gap) actually and I’ve always enjoyed watching top-class players practice as much as playing in games,” he said. “When I was playing, I used to enjoy watching Sachin practice, for instance. The same goes here, even though I’m coaching, I really enjoy watching the masters of their art do their thing,” Flower shared. “So, I think he’s in a really good spot and watching him time the ball and strike the ball in training, I think he’s at the peak of his powers. So, he’s aware of the fact that he’s playing less (cricket), but at the moment he looks at the top of his game,” he said. Andy Flower praises Rajat Patidar’s captaincy The RCB head coach also lauded Rajat Patidar for the progress he made as captain of the franchise. Patidar, in his first year as captain, guided RCB to the title and thereby ended an 18-year wait for glory. “It’s pretty amazing that in Rajat’s first year of captaincy, he led RCB to the trophy. He had only a little bit of captaincy experience before that, I think, for Madhya Pradesh. But we did like what we saw when we saw him leading,” Flower said.
“He’s obviously a very likable man and he’s well respected in the dressing room. He’s got high integrity, he stays nice and calm, which I think the bowlers like a lot and he’s got a good deputy in Jitesh,” added the RCB head coach, who went on to speak about Jitesh Sharma being the ideal vice-captain for Patidar. “Jitesh is certainly more energetic and excitable, but he’s got the gloves on. When you’ve got the gloves on behind you re seeing a lot of the game, it’s a really good place to understand the game from. I know Jitesh is a good student of the game and he’s tactically aware,” Flower said, adding, “So, I think having them close to each other around the square area in the field is really useful and it’s also quite nice having the slightly different characters working together as a duo.” Also read: Virat Kohli announces his intent with explosive 45-off-19 ball knock: Dinesh Karthik predicts RCB legend will ‘look even better this time’ RCB dedicate 11 Chinnaswamy seats to stampede victims RCB, in a heartfelt gesture, dedicated 11 seats at the Chinnaswamy Stadium to the victims of the deadly stampede that rocked the team’s title celebrations last year. These 11 seats will always be kept empty as a tribute to the ones who lost their lives in the tragic incident. Earlier, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had cancelled the opening ceremony on 28 March as a sign of respect for the stampede victims. Also read: ‘Impact player rule is unfair’:GT skipper Gill fumes over 12th player format; Nehra backs adaptive T20 cricket instead of high-scoring Daniel Vettori provides Pat Cummins’ fitness update Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) Daniel Vettori provided a crucial update on Pat Cummins’ fitness ahead of IPL 2026. Cummins is slated to miss the start of the season, with Ishan Kishan donning the captain’s hat on an interim basis. Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Vettori said that Cummins was fit and was focusing on his bowling load. “His fitness has been exceptional. He’s been out of the game for an extended period of time, so he’s had time to work on fitness. The only challenge for him was the bowling loads,” Vettori shared. “Once he got the all-clear from Cricket Australia to build those bowling loads, it’s a bit of a painstaking process to get the lungs up to where he feels confident and strong about bowling. Hopefully, we can get a definitive timeline, probably in the next 10-12 days, on when he can return to play,” he added. Vettori also praised Ishan’s captaincy skills, calling him a ‘confident player and leader’. “Ishan has been around in the IPL for a long time now. He has led in the under-19s, and he has led his State team to the Syed Mushtaq title. He is a confident player and leader — attributes that we looked at when he was appointed. Ishan and Abhishek are good friends, and they know the team exceptionally well. They will lead from the front,” the former cricketer said.