Royal Challengers Bengaluru paceman Josh Hazlewood was at his relentless best, tearing through Delhi Capitals with conditions offering just enough for the quicks. Alongside Bhuvneshwar Kumar, he never allowed the hosts a moment to settle, as the duo choked the innings in the powerplay. The damage was brutal; six wickets fell for just eight runs, effectively ending the contest within the first few overs.
Hazlewood’s precision and control stood out as he finished with a superb four-wicket haul, earning the Player of the Match award. Bhuvneshwar set the tone early with a breakthrough in the very first over, and Delhi never recovered from that early blow, collapsing under relentless pressure.
Reflecting on the unexpected turn of events, Hazlewood admitted even RCB weren’t anticipating such a collapse, while crediting Bhuvneshwar’s lead in setting up a dominant powerplay display.
“Yeah, I think, probably turning up here after 500-plus runs last game, probably weren’t expecting what happened, but, yeah, it feels like Bhuvi and I have been pretty close to producing a really good powerplay. So yeah, I just followed his lead basically again, and yeah, what happened, happened, so it was a great result,” the RCB pacer said in the post-match presentation.
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Explaining the conditions that aided RCB’s dominance, Hazlewood pointed out there was just enough movement early on, which the pacers exploited to full effect before the surface settled down.
“There was a little bit there in the first, you know, first six overs, which we maximised. I think there was a little bit up and down, maybe a little bit of sideways, so there was enough there to work with. The ball seemed to be skidding on quite quickly from short of a length in particular, and probably once the ball got soft, it became more consistent,” he added.
“No matter where you pitched, it…”: Josh Hazlewood
On his approach to key wickets of KL Rahul and Nitish Rana, Hazlewood highlighted the importance of disciplined lines and smart use of the short ball, explaining how accuracy and consistent lengths made life difficult for the batters on a tricky surface.
“Yeah, I think in general, you wanted the batter to try and hit the ball back down the wicket and play in the V. I felt like from that length and that line, a nice straight line, that was probably the most was in the wicket. And then obviously the short ball was nice as well. So it was just about the accuracy of the short ball in particular. But I think, no matter where you pitched, it sort of ended up at the right height. It was one of those wickets. So, yeah, I think when that ball was nice and hard, it was quite tough to bat,” he added.