<p>Bengaluru: When Royal Challengers Bengaluru procured Jacob Duffy during the mini auction last year for Rs 2 crore, the New Zealand fast bowler seemingly knew he was picked up as a back-up for his Australian counterpart Josh Hazlewood.</p>.<p>As luck would have it, the 31-year-old Duffy got a chance to finally make his IPL debut against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday as Hazlewood -- RCB’s wrecker-in-chief -- continues his recovery from an Achilles and hamstring injury.</p>.<p>Having waited patiently for half a decade to compete in the biggest T20 league in the world, the six-foot seamer gave an early indication on why New Zealanders rate him so highly with a smashing performance on debut. Bowling all his four overs on the bounce at the start, Duffy sizzled with a spell of 3/22 to lay siege to Sunrisers’ top-order.</p>.<p>At the beginning, the Southland native was quick to assess the conditions at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, which was hosting a high-profile game after 10 months. Making the most of the spongy bounce on offer early on, he employed the short stuff judiciously to constantly trouble openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma. In fact, all of his three wickets came via the short stuff.</p>.<p>Duffy, who has bagged 62 wickets in 48 T20Is for New Zealand since making his international debut in December 2020, showed he can move the ball too with both Abhishek and Head playing and missing on a couple of occasions. </p>.<p>Soon after his four-over spell, Duffy was substituted with Devdutt Padikkal under the Impact Player rule but his impact was so big, he was adjudged the Player of the Match.</p>.<p>Delighted with his debut, Duffy said he was just focussed on replicating what Hazlewood had done for RCB. “Awesome, hell of a way to start the campaign. Great win. I am just keeping the big fellow's (Hazlewood) seat warm. I just wanted to bowl the hard lengths, just keep the ball there. Even better that I got to walk off the field after seven overs.</p>.<p>“We talked about the lengths and stuff, what works here. Just build on what Josh did. When the ball is hard and new is the best time to bowl on this surface,” he added.</p>.<p>RCB skipper Rajat Patidar praised Duffy for repaying the confidence the management has on him. “Duffy was playing his first game and the way he played and the wickets he took were the turning point. Duffy, I think he is a specialist T20 bowler right now and we have a lot of confidence in him, so that's why we have given him a chance. But as we all know, I think he is a specialist bowler. The way he is delivering on his skill is tremendous.”</p>
<p>Bengaluru: When Royal Challengers Bengaluru procured Jacob Duffy during the mini auction last year for Rs 2 crore, the New Zealand fast bowler seemingly knew he was picked up as a back-up for his Australian counterpart Josh Hazlewood.</p>.<p>As luck would have it, the 31-year-old Duffy got a chance to finally make his IPL debut against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday as Hazlewood -- RCB’s wrecker-in-chief -- continues his recovery from an Achilles and hamstring injury.</p>.<p>Having waited patiently for half a decade to compete in the biggest T20 league in the world, the six-foot seamer gave an early indication on why New Zealanders rate him so highly with a smashing performance on debut. Bowling all his four overs on the bounce at the start, Duffy sizzled with a spell of 3/22 to lay siege to Sunrisers’ top-order.</p>.<p>At the beginning, the Southland native was quick to assess the conditions at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, which was hosting a high-profile game after 10 months. Making the most of the spongy bounce on offer early on, he employed the short stuff judiciously to constantly trouble openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma. In fact, all of his three wickets came via the short stuff.</p>.<p>Duffy, who has bagged 62 wickets in 48 T20Is for New Zealand since making his international debut in December 2020, showed he can move the ball too with both Abhishek and Head playing and missing on a couple of occasions. </p>.<p>Soon after his four-over spell, Duffy was substituted with Devdutt Padikkal under the Impact Player rule but his impact was so big, he was adjudged the Player of the Match.</p>.<p>Delighted with his debut, Duffy said he was just focussed on replicating what Hazlewood had done for RCB. “Awesome, hell of a way to start the campaign. Great win. I am just keeping the big fellow's (Hazlewood) seat warm. I just wanted to bowl the hard lengths, just keep the ball there. Even better that I got to walk off the field after seven overs.</p>.<p>“We talked about the lengths and stuff, what works here. Just build on what Josh did. When the ball is hard and new is the best time to bowl on this surface,” he added.</p>.<p>RCB skipper Rajat Patidar praised Duffy for repaying the confidence the management has on him. “Duffy was playing his first game and the way he played and the wickets he took were the turning point. Duffy, I think he is a specialist T20 bowler right now and we have a lot of confidence in him, so that's why we have given him a chance. But as we all know, I think he is a specialist bowler. The way he is delivering on his skill is tremendous.”</p>