Josh Hazlewood has been released by the Royal Challengers Bangalore ahead of the upcoming IPL auction.
The World Cup-winning paceman was one of five Australians released along with Matt Short, Jhye Richardson, Daniel Sams and Riley Meredith. The 10 IPL franchises cumulatively retained 173 players ahead of next month’s player auction.
After the eyebrow-raising decision to axe Hazlewood, who joined RCB in 2022 for $1.45 million, coach Andy Flower revealed some family news for the Aussie star.
READ MORE: Ange’s ultimate tribute for late former Socceroos coach
READ MORE: Socceroos star breaks silence after avoiding prison
READ MORE: Aussies shattered as Davis Cup drought continues
“I’ve just come off the phone with Josh,” Flower explained.
“He, very pleasingly, has a baby on the way, due at the end of March.
“So Josh won’t be with us, certainly not for the first half of the season.”
Hazlewood joined Wanindu Hasaranga, Harshal Patel, Finn Allen, Michael Bracewell, David Willey, Wayne Parnell, Sonu Yadav, Avinash Singh, Siddharth Kaul and Kedar Jadhav on the list of players released by RCB.
Both Flower and RCB director of cricket, Mo Bobat, explained the difficulty behind making the calls.
“It’s a tricky thing releasing players,” Flower said.
“We respect them, we value what they’ve given to the team. Even though I wasn’t here in that time, I watched from afar and I’ve heard people talk about them.
“These decisions are important and they affect people’s careers and I think Mo and I take that responsibility really seriously. We’ve given good debate time and thought to those decisions.”
“It’s sad to see any player departing RCB, but we’ve had to make a few decisions which have been tough decisions and we’ve spent a lot of time debating these,” Bobat added.
Hazlewood managed just three appearances for RCB this season as he struggled with an Achilles injury throughout the campaign.
While Hazlewood struggled to get on the park last season, Cameron Green had an outstanding season for the Mumbai Indians, pounding 452 runs at an average of 50.22.
However, Green will be plying his trade for RCB next season after being traded by Mumbai to create salary cap space for star all-rounder Hardik Pandya.
The IPL auction will take place on December 19. Sunrisers Hyderabad have the most money available heading into the auction, with over $6.2 million available in cap space.