New Zealand fast bowler Jacob Duffy, who picked up 3 wickets for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL 2026 opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad and dismissed 2 Chennai Super Kings batters in the second match for the defending champions on April 5, is not playing in the IPL 2026 match between RCB and Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati on Friday, April 10.
According to RCB captain Rajat Patidar, Duffy misses out due to Josh Hazlewood’s availability. Hazlewood, who was RCB’s highest wicket-taker in IPL 2025, has replaced Duffy in RCB’s playing XI for the IPL 2026 match against Rajasthan Royals at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati.
“Duffy misses out in this game. Josh (Hazlewood) in the place of Duffy. Duffy also bowled brilliantly in the last game (vs
CSK). But everyone knows Josh is an experienced player and specialist. But I think his presence will definitely put us in a good frame of mind, I think,” Patidar said at the toss.
Hazlewood, who was signed for Rs 12.50 crore by RCB in the IPL 2025 mega auction, last played a competitive cricket match in November 2025. Due to an injury, he missed the 2025-26 edition of the Ashes series at home and also the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka earlier this year.
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3️⃣1️⃣2️⃣ days later, we’re seated for his outing, we’re seated for his performance, we’re seated to witness what he does best! ⚡️
12th Man Army, ನಮ್ಮ Hazle???????????? is back. 🙇♂️ pic.twitter.com/TNR9SlUiy6
— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) April 10, 2026
Rajasthan Royals have also made one change to their playing XI for the IPL 2026 match against RCB. In place of Tushar Deshpande, Brijesh Sharma is back for RR.
27-year-old Brijesh played for RR against Chennai Super Kings on March 30 and picked up 1 wicket for 17 runs in his quota of three overs.
15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who hammered 39 runs from just 14 balls for RR in their third league match against Mumbai Indians, is part of the impact player’s list for the hosts along with Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Ravi Singh, Shubham Dubey and Deshpande.
Playing XIs
Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Riyan Parag (C), Shimron Hetmyer, Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Sandeep Sharma, Ravi Bishnoi, Brijesh Sharma
RCB: Virat Kohli, Philip Salt, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (C), Jitesh Sharma (WK), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Abhinandan Singh, Josh Hazlewood
