Hazlewood supreme again in bowling Bengaluru to IPL win – cricket.com.au

Match Report:
Aussie quick delivers when it matters, closing out another win for RCB over Rajasthan
There hasn’t been a bowler in the 2025 edition of the Indian Premier League who’s looked more accomplished and effective than the resurgent Josh Hazlewood.
The Australian paceman once again delivered a masterclass of control amid all the usual glorious IPL mayhem on Thursday as his final two overs at the business end of Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s clash with Rajasthan Royals proved RCB’s trump card in an 11-run win.
Hailed by RCB’s demanding but long-suffering fanbase at their Chinnaswamy Stadium, Hazlewood’s name ended up being chanted reverentially as the final two overs of his spell, with the Royals closing in on victory, delivered three wickets and went for only seven runs.
It was enough to tip the balance Bengaluru’s way as they celebrated their first home win all season, with Hazlewood rightly awarded the player-of-the-match gong for his brilliant 4-33, which featured the two key wickets of Yashasvi Jaiswal (49 off 19) and Dhruv Jurel (47 off 33) as well as 15 precious dot balls.
Hazlewood’s real masterpiece was the match’s penultimate over, with the Royals still looking in good shape, needing 18 runs off 12 balls to reach their target of 206 and Jurel still going strong.
But Rajasthan simply couldn’t cope with his pace and bounce as Hazlewood had dangerman Jurel caught behind, with the edge off the back of his bat to the keeper being captured only on review. He then had Jofra Archer the very next ball, the Englishman slicing a short, sharp one into cover’s hands.
That over ended up going for two wickets and just one run, derailing the Royals’ hopes which had been so high earlier when Jaiswal got a bit of fortune on the way to smashing Hazlewood’s first 10 deliveries for 26 runs before the Aussie finally got his revenge, hurrying the Test star into miscuing to midwicket.
En route to becoming the joint-leading wicket-taker in the competition with 16 scalps, alongside Gujarat’s Prasidh Krishna, Hazlewood also produced a beauty in his penultimate over to get the dangerous Shimron Hetmyer inside-edging for a caught-behind.
Asked about how he’s begun to look such a dominant force in this IPL after his injury-hit summer, the 34-year-old Hazlewood reckoned that, first and foremost, it was down to getting a full opportunity to have a run in the T20s.
“For a lot of years I didn’t quite have the opportunity with Test cricket and ODI cricket taking precedence,” he said. “But the opportunity over a number of years with the likes of Sydney Sixers, Chennai Super Kings and RCB here and obviously, for Australia, has helped me try to put it all together and perform.” 
As RCB jumped up to third in the table, the performance of Hazlewood’s Australian colleague Tim David also couldn’t be overlooked.
Once again, this expert finisher contributed an immensely useful 23 off 15 balls in the death overs, including his 13th six of the campaign, to help RCB amass 5-205 after the unstoppable run machine that is Virat Kohli had made another 70 off 42 balls – his fifth fifty of the season – and Devdutt Paddikal 50 off 27.
To finish another fine day’s work, David’s throw from the deep in the final over of Rajasthan’s chase effected the run out of Wanindu Hasaranga.
Chennai Super Kings: Nathan Ellis ($365k)
Delhi Capitals: Mitch Starc ($2.15m), Jake Fraser-McGurk ($1.65m)
Kolkata Knight Riders: Spencer Johnson ($510k)
Lucknow Super Giants: Justin Langer (coach), Mitch Marsh ($623k)
Punjab Kings: Ricky Ponting (coach), Marcus Stoinis ($2m), Glenn Maxwell ($770k), Josh Inglis ($475k), Aaron Hardie ($228k), Xavier Bartlett ($146k)
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Josh Hazlewood ($2.29m), Tim David ($547k)
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Pat Cummins ($3.7m), Travis Head ($1.2m), Adam Zampa ($440k)
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points
Your No.1 destination for live cricket scores, match coverage, breaking news, video highlights and in‑depth feature stories.

source