<p>Bengaluru: When Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Josh Hazlewood fronted up to bowl the 17th over with Rajasthan Royals needing 46 runs and the dangerous duo of Dhruv Jurel and Shimron Hetmyer in the middle, the game was very much in favour of the visitors. </p>.<p>Although Jurel and Hetmyer were stymied exceptionally by the spin duo of Krunal Pandya and Suyash Sharma in the middle phase, the batters showed calmness to tide through the tricky phase. With the tacky Chinnaswamy Stadium strip aiding slow bowling where hitting across the line resulted in top edges, the batters just wanted to see off Pandya and Suyash. Their targets were fast bowlers Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal, all of whom had been taken to the cleaners in their opening spells.</p>.IPL 2025 | Hazlewood ends RCB’s wait.<p>Given how predictable Hazlewood is with his old-fashioned Test match wicket-to-wicket lines and lengths, Jurel and Hetmyer fancied their chances against Hazlewood. Yes, Hazlewood is still a very old school bowler who sticks to the basics but the 34-year-old, a modern day version of Aussie great Glen McGrath, is also wiser by experience. And he brought all that to the fore with two game-changing overs that helped RCB register their first home win in a tense affair.</p>.<p>What Hazlewood lacks in varieties he supplants it with consistency. He stuck to his tried and tested hard-length bowling but mixed it with up nicely with short balls, back of length ones as well as yorkers — some at the wickets and some wide off them — to remove the predictability factor that he’s often perceived to be. Hetmyer and Jurel tried shuffling across the crease assuming Hazlewood would hit same lengths but they were outfoxed by the Aussie. </p>.<p>He accounted for Hetmyer in the 17th over before dishing out an exceptional 19th over where he dismissed a well-set Jurel and a dangerous Jofra Archer off successive deliveries, giving away just 1 run in the process. Tight matches are always decided by such moments where exceptional players produce magic and Hazlewood was rightfully adjudged the player of the match award. </p>.<p>“I would probably refer to both of his last overs because his two overs went for seven and he took three wickets in them. So I think both those overs showed the class of the guy, you know, he's a class operator, he's a world-class bowler, he is great under pressure in any format of the game, he thinks clearly and he's got great skill,” said a delighted head coach Andy Flower in the post-match press conference on Thursday night.</p>.<p>“I know he's known for his heavy length bowling but he's got some great all-round skills. He mixes in those yorkers, wide yorkers, slower balls and he seems to know what type of ball to bowl at the right time. So it's great having a guy like him in our side, in our squad and part of a very strong three-pronged attack.”</p>.<p>Flower, a measured man, is bang on about Hazlewood. Even if a bowler is blessed with all the skills in the world, it’s about execution, especially when pressure is high. Hazlewood showed why RCB pursued him strongly with a masterclass of a performance. With the tournament heading towards the business end and RCB within sniffing distance of a play-off spot, they’ll be hoping for more such masterclasses.</p>
<p>Bengaluru: When Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Josh Hazlewood fronted up to bowl the 17th over with Rajasthan Royals needing 46 runs and the dangerous duo of Dhruv Jurel and Shimron Hetmyer in the middle, the game was very much in favour of the visitors. </p>.<p>Although Jurel and Hetmyer were stymied exceptionally by the spin duo of Krunal Pandya and Suyash Sharma in the middle phase, the batters showed calmness to tide through the tricky phase. With the tacky Chinnaswamy Stadium strip aiding slow bowling where hitting across the line resulted in top edges, the batters just wanted to see off Pandya and Suyash. Their targets were fast bowlers Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal, all of whom had been taken to the cleaners in their opening spells.</p>.IPL 2025 | Hazlewood ends RCB’s wait.<p>Given how predictable Hazlewood is with his old-fashioned Test match wicket-to-wicket lines and lengths, Jurel and Hetmyer fancied their chances against Hazlewood. Yes, Hazlewood is still a very old school bowler who sticks to the basics but the 34-year-old, a modern day version of Aussie great Glen McGrath, is also wiser by experience. And he brought all that to the fore with two game-changing overs that helped RCB register their first home win in a tense affair.</p>.<p>What Hazlewood lacks in varieties he supplants it with consistency. He stuck to his tried and tested hard-length bowling but mixed it with up nicely with short balls, back of length ones as well as yorkers — some at the wickets and some wide off them — to remove the predictability factor that he’s often perceived to be. Hetmyer and Jurel tried shuffling across the crease assuming Hazlewood would hit same lengths but they were outfoxed by the Aussie. </p>.<p>He accounted for Hetmyer in the 17th over before dishing out an exceptional 19th over where he dismissed a well-set Jurel and a dangerous Jofra Archer off successive deliveries, giving away just 1 run in the process. Tight matches are always decided by such moments where exceptional players produce magic and Hazlewood was rightfully adjudged the player of the match award. </p>.<p>“I would probably refer to both of his last overs because his two overs went for seven and he took three wickets in them. So I think both those overs showed the class of the guy, you know, he's a class operator, he's a world-class bowler, he is great under pressure in any format of the game, he thinks clearly and he's got great skill,” said a delighted head coach Andy Flower in the post-match press conference on Thursday night.</p>.<p>“I know he's known for his heavy length bowling but he's got some great all-round skills. He mixes in those yorkers, wide yorkers, slower balls and he seems to know what type of ball to bowl at the right time. So it's great having a guy like him in our side, in our squad and part of a very strong three-pronged attack.”</p>.<p>Flower, a measured man, is bang on about Hazlewood. Even if a bowler is blessed with all the skills in the world, it’s about execution, especially when pressure is high. Hazlewood showed why RCB pursued him strongly with a masterclass of a performance. With the tournament heading towards the business end and RCB within sniffing distance of a play-off spot, they’ll be hoping for more such masterclasses.</p>