In a major blow to the Royal Challengers Bangalore, their new signing Will Jacks has been ruled out of the upcoming IPL 2023. The 24-year-old all-rounder picked a muscle injury while fielding during the ODI series against Bangladesh.
Jacks was roped in by RCB at the IPL December auction for a price tag of INR 3.2 crore. As a batting all-rounder, Will Jacks was included in the squad as a cover for the Aussie all-rounder Glenn Maxwell who will be coming back from a major injury. Maxwell hasn’t played international cricket for 5 months.
Will Jacks impressed everyone in the various leagues like PSL, The Hundred, BPL and Abu Dhabi T10. It was supposed to be Jacks’ first ever IPL experience and his chance to get used to the Indian conditions. The exclusion of a quality all-rounder will be a big loss for the RCB side and if Maxwell will not be fully fit for IPL then things can be difficult for the side.
RCB is now eyeing on New Zealand’s latest star all-rounder Michael Bracewell. He went unsold at the auction after being available at a base price of INR 1 crore. Bracewell has been quite impressive as an all-rounder for the New Zealand side and he has also smashed a century at Hyderabad in an ODI against India this year which shows that he is a quality batter in these conditions.
RCB will kick-off the IPL 2023 with their opening match against Mumbai Indians on 2nd April at the homeground M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
Maxwell will be part of the ODI series between Australia and India which will start on 17th March. All the questions over his fitness will be answered in this series.