Josh Hazlewood cast a spell to remember, claiming 4 wickets for 33 runs, as Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) earned their inaugural home win in Match 42 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.
RCB defeated Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 11 runs at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday.
RCB scored a combined total of 205/5, their season-high home total, with the help of half-centuries from Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal and timely knocks by Tim David and Jitesh Sharma.
RR's reaction was aggressive, as their batsmen came out all guns blazing and appeared to gain the upper hand in the chase. But though the spin bowlers halted their progress, RR still required just 18 runs from the last two overs to put an end to their four-match losing run.
But Hazlewood's incredible penultimate over, during which he yielded only one run and took two wickets, sealed RCB's win and drove the home supporters wild. By contrast, RR faltered again in a chase they ought to have won, their third successive failure and putting their playoff ambitions further in the balance.
Yashasvi Jaiswal gave RR an early tone, taking Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a six before contributing two fours in an 18-run over off Yash Dayal, including a leading edge and a huge six over deep mid-wicket. Vaibhav Suryavanshi hit Bhuvneshwar for a six after that. Jaiswal played Hazlewood's first three balls cautiously, missing all three. But in his subsequent three deliveries, Jaiswal retaliated with three fours, one of which was a top-edged pull shot. Suryavanshi also top-edged Bhuvneshwar for a six, but the experienced pacer hit back by getting the left-handed batter out with a knuckleball.
Jaiswal kept up the attack, hitting the boundary off Hazlewood twice in a row before ramping one for six. But Hazlewood, altering to about around the wicket, cramped Jaiswal on the following ball, with the batter pulling off to mid-wicket and short by a run of a sensational fifty. This breakthrough notwithstanding, RR continued the runs to come—Nitish Rana was hit by Romario Shepherd for four, with Riyan Parag doing the same with a boundary and a six.
Parag then brought Suyash Sharma on for two leg-side sixes and a four, and Rana exploited Dayal's width, hitting back-to-back boundaries. But Krunal Pandya made an early impact, getting rid of Parag, who top-edged to wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma. With Parag gone, RCB tightened their grip by giving away only one boundary in overs 10-13.
Pressure from Suyash Sharma and Pandya, along with a change of ball, proved to be RCB's salvation. Rana was dismissed by Pandya, caught at short fine-leg, while Hazlewood got the better of Shimron Hetmyer with a nick behind to Jitesh.
Dhruv Jurel, who was on 18 off 23, finally broke his shackles with a couple of sixes, one off Suyash and one off Pandya, before he and Shubham Dubey smashed Bhuvneshwar for 22 runs in the 18th over.
Hazlewood, though, turned the match in RCB's direction. His wide yorker caught the bottom edge of Jurel, resulting in a wicket after a successful review by Jitesh. He then dismissed Jofra Archer with a bounce that resulted in a chip to cover for a golden duck. Hazlewood's incredible three-wicket return for only seven runs in the last two overs was instrumental in getting RCB their first home victory of IPL 2025, which filled the team and their ardent fans with great joy.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 205/5 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 70, Devdutt Padikkal 50; Sandeep Sharma 2-45, Wanindu Hasaranga 1-30) defeated Rajasthan Royals 194/9 in 20 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 49, Dhruv Jurel 47; Josh Hazlewood 4-33, Krunal Pandya 2-31) by 11 runs.
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