It was tough being at home doing rehab while cricket is going on: RCB pacer Hazlewood

Royal Challengers Bengaluru's lead pacer Josh Hazlewood on Friday conceded that his delayed entry into IPL 2026 because of the rehabilitation process was tough on him, but at 35, he needed to work around injuries and respect the time required to return to the field.

Hazlewood, who was recovering from multiple injuries since November 2025, took to the field after a hiatus of 151 days during RCB's match against Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati last week.

"I think this time around it was quite a long time out of the game. It was tough being at home doing rehab while cricket is going on, in particular an Ashes and a World Cup. So, I was keen to get back as soon as I could for IPL, but at the same time not rush it," Hazlewood said on the eve of the match against Delhi Capitals here.

Hazlewood said he did try to make a comeback during the final phase of the Ashes or the T20 World Cup earlier this year.

"It wasn't a stress fracture. But I think just the hamstring first, followed by, you know, tendon. It wasn't Achilles, it was sort of the FHL tendon next to it, and then a torn calf. So, just a few things crept in.

"I think mostly through probably trying to rush back a little bit, trying to make it to the fourth or fifth Ashes Test or the World Cup. But it's probably just that respect injuries, particularly once you're at the wrong side of 30s. It's just about respecting that time frame or the time that it takes to get back. And playing at this intensity (in the IPL) I think is obviously quite high.

"So, that's sort of how we've planned - to miss the first two (matches) and then play a game (vs RR), and then obviously game four was so quickly back up to miss that and then play again (vs LSG). So fingers crossed, our schedule is pretty good now," he added.

So, how does he evaluate his body and match readiness after two matches?

Hazlewood was torn apart by RR's teen sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi but made an excellent comeback against Lucknow with the Player of the Match award winning spell of 4-0-20-1.

"I ticked off everything I possibly could, I even probably had a few more sessions here than what I probably felt that I needed to be ready. I probably felt four or five days before playing that Rajasthan game that I was ready for.

"Yeah, that intensity is, in particular for T20, your volume doesn't have to be huge at training, it's just reaching that intensity that the game demands. So, that's probably the biggest thing to tick off at training in the last four weeks leading into this tournament, which I felt like I did as best I could," he noted.