Josh Hazlewood Continues To Contribute Despite Limited Credit

Bhargav Dixit

Josh Hazlewood celebrates a wicket. [Source: AP Photos]Josh Hazlewood celebrates a wicket. [Source: AP Photos]

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It took Royal Challengers Bengaluru fast bowler Josh Hazlewood just three balls to force Kolkata Knight Riders wicket-keeper batter into committing a mistake. Had Suyash Sharma successfully completed a straightforward catch, the first three balls of IPL 2025 would’ve been a dot, four and wicket.

Hazlewood, however, needed two more deliveries to send de Kock back to the pavilion. With RCB wicket-keeper Jitesh Sharma not erring behind the stumps, Hazlewood picked a wicket in the cash-rich league after almost a couple of years.

In the following over, Hazlewood would’ve bowled a maiden, only his second in the tournament, after almost three years had it not been for Sunil Narine top-edging a short ball over Jitesh’s head. Kick-starting the tournament with just eight runs across two overs, Bengaluru couldn’t have asked anything more from the Australian bowler.

Josh Hazlewood Keeps On Giving

Hazlewood, who often finds himself under the radar even at the highest level due to the individual presence of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, wouldn’t be remembered for his latest performance but it sure played a mammoth role in restricting Kolkata to 174/8 in 2 overs.

Although all-rounder Krunal Pandya emerged as the pick of the bowlers on the back of bowling figures of 4-0-29-3, it was Hazlewood who kept things tight both at the start and towards the end. With RCB captain Rajat Patidar persisting with spinners in the middle overs, Hazlewood was asked to bowl two out of the last three overs.

Unsurprisingly, the right-arm bowler didn’t let the opposition gain any advantage in the death overs. Barring Angkrish Raghuvanshi’s praiseworthy six, Hazlewood remained in control for the remaining 11 deliveries that he bowled.

In the last over, Harshit Rana emulated Narine to hit Hazlewood for a boundary over Jitesh. A similar attempt on the next ball, however, resulted in Rana’s dismissal. If not for two streaky boundaries in his second and fourth overs, Hazlewood would’ve returned with bowling figures of 4-0-14-2 in place of 4-0-22-2.

Even if he had done that, someone would’ve still managed to emerge from somewhere in order to steal credit off Hazlewood. Isn’t’ it?