IPL 2026 RCB vs SRH Playing 11: Who will replace Josh Hazlewood in Bengaluru’s side?

The 19th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is all set to kick off with defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) hosting the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH).

The match scheduled for 7:30 PM will be played at the Chinnaswamy Stadium tomorrow (March 28). RCB were dominant in the 2025 season and ended it by finally ending their long wait for an IPL title.

To secure a second consecutive trophy, they’ll be leaning heavily on a core roster featuring Virat Kohli, Krunal Pandya, Rajat Patidar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Tim David.

ALSO READNo Hazlewood, No Yash Dayal: How Venkatesh Iyer can rescue RCB’s weak bowling in IPL opener against SRH However, they have a gap the size of Josh Hazlewood to fix in their playing 11. The Australian is injured.

With Yash Dayal and Nuwan Thushara ruled out, all the discussions in the RCB fan camp will focus on what will their pace attack look like going into the season opener on Saturday.

RCB vs SRH IPL 2026: Predicted Playing XIs RCB predicted XI: Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (C), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Suyash Sharma, Jacob Duffy SRH predicted XI: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (C), Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Liam Livingstone, Harshit Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Brydon Carse, Shivam Mavi RCB vs SRH IPL 2026: Squads RCB Squad: Abhinandan Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Devdutt Padikkal, Jacob Bethell, Jitesh Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, Krunal Pandya, Nuwan Thushara, Phil Salt, Rajat Patidar (Captain), Rasikh Dar, Romario Shepherd, Suyash Sharma, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Virat Kohli, Yash Dayal, Venkatesh Iyer, Jacob Duffy, Mangesh Yadav, Satwik Deswal, Jordan Cox, Vihaan Malhotra, Kanishk Chouhan SRH Squad: Pat Cummins (c), Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aniket Verma, R.

Smaran, Ishan Kishan, Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Kamindu Mendis, Harshal Patel, Brydon Carse, Jaydev Unadkat, Eshan Malinga, Zeeshan Ansari, Liam Livingstone, Shivam Mavi, Salil Arora, Shivang Kumar, Omkar Tarmale, Krains Fuletra, Praful Hinge, Amit Kumar, Sakib Hussain, Jack Edwards ALSO READNot PCB, Petrol Prices Running PSL: How Fuel Shortage in Pakistan Killed Super League’s Vibe RCB vs SRH IPL 2026: Bengaluru weather and pitch report According to AccuWeather, the match day will see a high of 32°C, with temperatures ranging between 31°C and 37°C.

Wind gusts are expected at 26 km/h, while the probability of precipitation and thunderstorms is 3% and 1%, respectively. The forecast also indicates 29% cloud cover. The Chinnaswamy pitch is famous for favouring batters, particularly in T20s.