They were chanting his name in the stands at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. This is normal for an RCB game, but on Thursday (April 24), the cheering was being done post-match. Josh Hazlewood has been an all-format superstar of a bowler, but even he might not have experienced anything quite like this – a sizeable number of fans hooting for him well after the game was done.
Hazlewood was the hero of a come-from-behind win, RCB’s first at home, taking 4 for 33 to restrict Rajasthan Royals to 194 for 9 after RCB had put on 205 for 5.
He got a rampaging Yashasvi Jaiswal (49 off 19) in the powerplay, a marauding Dhruv Jurel (47 off 34) at the death, and either side of that, added the scalps of Shimron Hetmyer and Jofra Archer too. He now has 16 wickets in IPL 2025, the joint-highest alongside Prasidh Krishna.
The spell at the death
Hazlewood’s first battle of the day was against Jaiswal. At the start, Jaiswal being beaten and found himself literally on the floor to a sharply rising delivery. But he came back with a flurry of boundaries. In the last over of the powerplay, Hazlewood went around the wicket, got another one to lift awkwardly, and had Jaiswal caught in the circle.
Hazlewood came back at the death when 46 were needed off 24. He gave up just six runs, while also scything through Hetmyer. It might have been the perfect death over, except that it was topped when Hazlewood bowled his last. The Royals needed 18 off 12 balls then. And at that supreme moment, Hazlewood gave up just one run while taking two wickets.
“He’s a class operator, he’s a world-class bowler. He is great under pressure in any format of the game,” RCB coach Andy Flower said after the game. “He thinks clearly and he’s got great skill. 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.”
Knowing which ball to bowl at what time is a key part of Hazlewood’s skill. “I think first of all it was just sticking to your strengths,” Hazlewood said while receiving the Player of the Match award. “Knew that on the wicket that hard length was still hard to hit, so I just about mixing it up with the odd yorker, the odd bouncer, changes of pace. Normal stuff, it was just the order in which you apply those balls.”
Part of the skill in knowing which ball to bowl is a bowler’s ability to read what the batter wants to do, and what he’ll be least comfortable facing. In his entire career, but particularly in IPL 2025, Hazlewood has shown a mastery at that. He is known for landing the ball consistently in the same area and getting awkward lift at good pace – but if he was limited to only that, he would have been easy to line up and hit in T20 cricket. Having such consistent success shows how skilful, as well as mindful, he is as a bowler.
The journey to RCB, via CSK and Sixers
For a good part of his career, Hazlewood didn’t play much T20 cricket, prioritising Tests first while managing his body too. When he has taken to playing regularly, Hazlewood has shown he’s just as much of a threat in 20 overs as he has been with the red ball, or in 50 overs.
“For a lot of years there, I didn’t quite have the opportunity with Test cricket taking preference, and ODI cricket,” he said, reflecting on his development in T20s. “So once again the opportunity – there’s a range of teams: Sydney Sixers, Chennai Super Kings and RCB here for a number of years now. They’re probably the main ones. Obviously for Australia (too). Taking pieces of information from different people in different conditions and trying to put it all together and perform.”
Hazlewood started his IPL journey with CSK, in IPL 2020 and 2021. Since IPL 2022 though, he’s been an RCB man. And given the way he’s been performing for them, he’s likely to remain so. Those chants at the Chinnaswamy will ring out again.
