Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 has been no less than a nightmare for the bowlers. So far in the current season, 200 plus target has been chased 10 times. This figure shows how well the batsmen are performing. However, amidst the dominance of the batsmen, Royal Challengers Bangalore fast bowlers Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have left a different impression with their skills.
Hazlewood-Bhavneshwar pair wreaked havoc against Delhi Capitals on April 27, reducing their innings to just 75 runs. Bhuvneshwar took 3 wickets for 5 runs in 3 overs while Hazlewood took 4 wickets for 12 runs in 3.3 overs. For this sharp bowling performance, Hazlewood was awarded the Player of the Match award. However, in the very next match, he was very expensive and gave away 55 runs in his 4 over spell, which was the second most expensive spell of his IPL career. Earlier, he had conceded 64 runs in 4 overs against Punjab Kings in IPL 2022.
Also read: Bhuvneshwar Kumar is wreaking havoc at the age of 36, created history against Gujarat Titans
Gill shocked Hazlewood
In the 42nd match of the season played in Ahmedabad, the teams of Gujarat Titans (GT) and RCB were face to face. GT won the toss and bowled first, bowling out RCB for just 155 runs. While chasing this small target, captain Shubman Gill started aggressively. He opened his account by hitting a four against Bhuvneshwar in the very first over and then hit a six on the next ball. Gill adopted a ferocious form against Hazlewood who came in the second over and scored 24 runs by hitting 3 fours and 2 sixes.
Hejvelud was then taken on the radar by Jos Buttler and after hitting a six on the last ball of his second over, he ended his third over with a four and a six. Hazlewood had given away 49 runs in his first 3 overs. RCB captain Rajat Patidar put him on the attack again in the 10th over. Hazlewood gave only 2 runs on the first 5 balls of this over but Shahrukh Khan made his bad days worse by hitting a four on the last ball.
Also read: Rajat Patidar Out or Not Out? Uproar over Holder’s catch, Kohli clashes with umpire
His quota of 4 overs from Hazlewood were bowled till the 10th over only. The last time he did this was by Chennai Super Kings in the 2020 season. Hazlewood’s failure in this match made it impossible for RCB to defend 155 runs and they had to face a crushing defeat by 4 wickets.
Comments are closed.