IPL 2023: Glenn Maxwell fully fit, available to play RCB’s campaign opener against Mumbai Indians

After breaking his leg right after the T20 World Cup, Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell made his return to international cricket in the white-ball series against India. However, the 34-year-old felt discomfort during the ODI series and thus, did not take part in the third and final match of the series.

With that, his availability in the 16th edition of the Indian Premier League was up in the air as well. It was reported that Maxwell will miss the first couple of games for Royal Challengers Bangalore but batting coach Sanjay Bangar cleared the air and declared him fit ahead of the Mumbai match.

Notably, the all-rounder was in sensational form in the intra-squad match, smashing 78* off 46 deliveries. Thus, his form is going to boost RCB’s chances against Mumbai as the team would hope to start the season with a win in the bag. In order to do so, Maxwell will have to play a massive part as many of their first-choice foreign players are not available at this point.

Bangar shares an update on Rajat Patidar and Josh Hazlewood

The batting coach confirmed that the National Cricket Academy (NCA) will take a call on Rajat Patidar as the management is still waiting for answers from NCA but there has not been an update yet. 

“As far as Rajat goes, at this point he’s out of our control, at the NCA he’s sort of undergoing treatment in that particular academy and we are still waiting for the clarifications from him. And once we get the clarifications, our media team will certainly keep you in the loop and it might also be the case the NCA will take a very sporting call on what he does or what his future holds,” the 50-year-old was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

When it comes to Josh Hazlewood, Bangar stated that they have Reece Topley as a backup and expect him to do well in the forthcoming season.

“We sort of anticipated it and it was factored in the auction or pre-auction meeting. We are happy to secure the services of Reece Topley, who provides a like-for-like replacement for Josh and having factored in that, that sort of gives us a good cover. I am sure his left-arm bowling option will add to the bowling group,” he added while talking about Hazlewood.