Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], March 30 (ANI): Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) dealt with early blows as Australia's Josh Hazlewood and Glenn Maxwell are unlikely to play in the franchise's opening encounter, according to a report in cricket.com.au.

RCB will start their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 season with a match against Mumbai Indians (MI) at their home arena, M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on April 2.

Hazlewood will likely miss the initial stages of the Indian Premier League. The 32-year-old is now rehabilitating from an Achilles issue that prevented him from taking part in the India Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The RCB pacer will consult with Cricket Australia's medical staff before making the journey to the IPL.

In another big development, Glenn Maxwell, who missed Australia's final two ODIs against India earlier this month, is still recovering from a leg injury and is questionable to feature for RCB in the first IPL game.

According to national selector George Bailey, Maxwell, who injured his leg in a terrible accident at a friend's birthday party last November, found the transition back to ODI cricket "more hard than he had expected."It is believed that Maxwell has been putting in a lot of strength and conditioning work in the gym with RCB in an effort to be ready for their inaugural game on Sunday night against the Mumbai Indians, for whom Australian all-rounder Cameron Green is scheduled to make his IPL debut.

Last year, RCB qualified for playoffs and lost to Rajasthan Royals in qualifier 2 by seven wickets.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Squad strength: 25 players (overseas 8) Players bought during IPL 2023 auction - Reece Topley (Rs 1.9 crore), Himanshu Sharma (Rs 20 lakh), Will Jacks (Rs 3.2 crore), Manoj Bhandage (Rs 20 lakh), Rajan Kumar (Rs 70 lakh), Avinash Singh (Rs 60 lakh).

Players retained - Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Suyash Prabhudessai, Rajat Patidar, Dinesh Karthik, Anuj Rawat, Finn Allen, Glenn Maxwell, Wanindu Hasaranga, Shahbaz Ahmed, Harshal Patel, David Willey, Karn Sharma, Mahipal Lomror, Mohammed Siraj, Josh Hazlewood, Siddarth Kaul, Akash Deep. (ANI)