IPL 2025 | Hazlewood ends RCB’s wait

Bengaluru: The pieces finally fell together, albeit anxiously, for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium as they braved a tenacious assault from Rajasthan Royals to register their first home win of this IPL season in their fourth attempt.

Responding brilliantly to their skipper Rajat Patidar’s call on match eve for better application on a pitch that continued to befuddle everyone with its tackiness, talisman Virat Kohli (70, 42b, 8x4, 2x6) and rising young star Devdutt Padikkal (50, 27b, 4x4, 3x6) struck measured half-centuries to power Royal Challengers to a competitive 205/5 in 20 overs.

Given two-paced the surface that made stroke-making difficult for batters, at least at the start of their respective innings, RCB felt they had enough in the bank to break the barren run at home. Rajasthan, who have been languishing at the bottom half of the table for much of the season, however, came out all guns blazing that caught the Challengers completely off guard.

Yashasvi Jaiswal smashed the first ball of the innings for a massive six that not just rattled pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar but the rest of the RCB contingent too. That arrogance and confidence of young Jaiswal, now a regular in the Indian set-up, rubbed off onto the immensely gifted 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi who too clobbered Bhuvneshwar for two sixes.

Given the licence to throw their bats around at anything and everything considering the steep asking rate, the duo just kept going for their shots as RR raced to 52/0 in just 4.1 overs. Even after Suryavanshi departed to a ‘you miss I hit’ ball from Bhuvneshwar in the fifth over, Rajasthan continued to bat in fifth gear as runs came in a torrent.

Jaiswal kept swinging and fortune favoured the brave as some of his miscued attempts landed in no-man’s land. With his pace trio of Bhuvneshwar, Yash Dayal and the ever-dependable Josh Hazlewood being taken to the cleaners by Jaiswal and then Riyan Parag (22, 10b), RCB skipper Rajat Patidar looked all at sea on how to contain the tsunami. Change bowler Romario Shepherd too was taken apart ruthlessly, forcing Patidar to bring in Impact Player Suyash Sharma and old hand Krunal Pandya.

The duo applied the brakes on the free-hitting Rajasthan batters but given the rousing start, the asking rate didn’t touch alarming levels despite the the middle-over slump. Slowly the Challengers started to apply the chokehold but the dangerous Jitesh Sharma released all that pressure with a brilliant 34-ball 47 that tilted the scales back in Rajasthan’s favour.

It looked like Jurel would seal a famous win for Rajasthan before Hazlewood (4/33) hauled RCB back in with a brilliant penultimate over where he dismissed the wicketkeeper and Jofra Archer off successive deliveries, giving away just 1 run in the process. Eighteen from 12 with a set Jurel at crease became 17 off 6, all thanks to the Australian’s magic with the ball — just that the doctor ordered.

Dayal then kept his cool in the final over, securing a heart-stopping 11-run win for RCB that took them to 12 points and in sniffing distance of a play-off spot.