Josh Hazlewood shone on the evening with a brilliant bowling performance for Royal Challengers Bangalore, earning him his second player of the match award for the season.
Playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore, several players including Jacob Duffy, Tim David, Phil Salt and Virat Kohli have been selected as POTM in matches. Hazlewood has now picked up his second POTM award for the season.
RCB have continued their peak form in the competition and have now managed to win six of their first eight games in the tournament, with Rajat Patidar continuing his winning streak as captain of the defending champions.
Josh Hazlewood wins POTM award for his amazing performances with the ball
Josh Hazlewood took two back-to-back wickets in consecutive balls in his very first over with the ball. He first dismissed KL Rahul with a bouncer, which fell sharply on him and Rahul dismissed it.
The next ball was wide pitched outside the off-stump and Sameer Rizvi did not move his leg while bowling at it. He was on a hat-trick when Tristan Stubbs hit him for a four.
Hazlewood’s next wicket came against Nitish Rana and he ended the game with his fourth wicket by dismissing Abhishek Porel with a brilliant yorker on middle stump. After bowling 3.3 overs, he finished with figures of 4/12 and was awarded the player of the match award.
Josh Hazlewood reveals how conditions helped him improve his bowling performance
“Yes, I think, probably coming here after scoring 500-plus in the last game, probably didn’t expect what happened, but, yes, it feels like Bhuvi and I are quite close to making really good powerplays. So yes, I basically followed his lead again and, yes, what happened, happened, so it was a great result,” Josh Hazlewood said.
Talking about the wicket, he revealed that the wicket helped him a bit at the beginning of the overs, as the ball was spinning a bit and was enough for the bowlers to work with.
He said how the short length helped him target the wickets of players like KL Rahul and Nitish Rana, whom he surprised with a few bouncers. “And then obviously the short ball was also good,” he said.
“So it was specifically about the accuracy of the short ball. But I think, no matter where you pitched, it ended up at the right height. It was one of those wickets. So, yes, I think when that ball was nice and hard, it was quite difficult to bat.”
Hazlewood’s honest opinion on the team’s strategy and tempo in the game
Hazlewood revealed how he would have liked to bowl a fourth consecutive over and then walk off the field; However, after fast bowlers Romario Shepherd and Rasikh Salam conceded some runs, Rajat Patidar removed them from the captaincy and included spinners.
“But no, I think the way we planned it was good. Our spinners came into the game, you know, played it well. Suyyash bowled beautifully again. KP, clever-old character. So, yes, it feels like every box is ticking at the moment,” he said.
“Yeah, I think we’ve just picked up where we left off last year. I felt like, especially in our away games, we understood the conditions well and quickly, whether we batted first or bowled first, and adapted our game accordingly.”
Hazlewood summed up the team’s stellar performance, saying, “So we really got into somewhat of a rhythm at the end of last year, and it feels like we’re finding our stride now at the right time for the tournament.”
Also Read: “We got early wickets”: Rajat Patidar credits RCB’s pace attack for win against DC in IPL 2026
