Star Australian fast bowler Josh Hazlewood has been dropped from RCB’s playing XI for their IPL 2026 match against Mumbai Indians on Sunday, April 12. In his place, New Zealand fast bowler Jacob Duffy
is back in RCB’s playing XI. Duffy was benched by RCB for Hazlewood in their third IPL 2026 match against Rajasthan Royals on Friday, April 10, but the move backfired as the Australian conceded 44 runs in his quota of four overs and picked up two wickets.
“Just one change: Duffy comes in place of Hazlewood,” RCB skipper Rajat Patidar said during the toss.
Duffy, who was signed by RCB for Rs 2 crore in the IPL 2026 auction, played the first two matches for the Bengaluru-based franchise and picked up 5 wickets. He finished with figures of 3 for 22 in four overs against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Bengaluru on March 28. And in RCB’s second match against Chennai Super Kings, he accounted for the dismissal of two batters for 58 runs in four overs.
Apart from Hazlewood, uncapped Indian fast bowler Abhinandan Singh has also been dropped from RCB for Sunday’s match in Mumbai against Mumbai Indians. Abhinandan conceded 54 runs in three overs against Rajasthan Royals on April 10 and failed to take even one wicket. In his place, Suyash Sharma is included in the starting XI. Madhya Pradesh’s fast bowler Mangesh Yadav, Rasikh Salam Dar, Venkatesh Iyer and Swapnil Singh are part of RCB’s impact players list along with England’s Jacob Bethell.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (playing XI): Philip Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (C), Tim David, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Duffy, Suyash Sharma. Impact players: Rasikh Salam Dar, Venkatesh Iyer, Jacob Bethell, Swapnil Singh, Mangesh Yadav
2 changes for MI
Mumbai Indians have also made a couple of changes to their playing XI for the high-voltage match against RCB. New Zealand’s T20I captain Mitchell Santner is back for the hosts along with Punjab spinner Mayank Markande. They have replaced Afghanistan spinner Allah Ghazanfar and out-of-favour Indian pacer Deepak Chahar.
“Mayank Markande and Mitchell Santner come in for Chahar and Ghazanfar,” MI captain Hardik Pandya said about the changes in MI’s XI after winning the toss and opting to field first.
Chahar bowled one over for MI in their third IPL 2026 match against Rajasthan Royals at Barsapara Cricket Stadium on Tuesday (April 7) and conceded 22 runs.
Mumbai Indians (playing XI): Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (C), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Trent Boult, Mayank Markande, Jasprit Bumrah. Impact players: Sherfane Rutherford, Corbin Bosch, Ashwani Kumar, Raghu Sharma, Raj Bawa
