Royal Challengers Bengaluru fast bowler Josh Hazlewood was always going to hold the key when the franchise had to defend a target of 206 runs at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru in the ongoing IPL 2025 on Thursday. There was extra bounce in the surface and the lanky Australian was able to make the most of it.

Hazlewood got the big wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was taking the game away from RCB as he scored a blistering knock of 19-ball 49. The RCB pack leader then got the big wickets of Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer and Jofra Archer in the death overs. Furthermore, the veteran pacer conceded only one run in the penultimate over of the innings and left 17 runs for Yash Dayal to defend in the last over.

The right-arm pacer revealed that the idea was to make use of extra bounce and mix it up with slower balls and yorkers.

Hazlewood said after bagging the Player of the Match award, “First of all was sticking to your strengths. Knew the hard length was tough to hit on this wicket, mixing it up with the odd yorker, the slower balls and the order in which to bowl them was the way to go.”

The Australian said they try to work in groups and pass on the information to one another regarding the surface.

Hazlewood concluded, “Taking information from different pieces and putting it all together. One of the big keys for us is to get the information to the group as well. I love our bowling attack. I feel we have got every base covered, everyone has their days and we are doing well. The bounce is quite steep here throughout the whole tournament, getting that score was phenomenal. I feel that was well-above par and the guys did a really great job.”

Royal Challengers Bengaluru will next take on Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Sunday.