NEW CHANDIGARH: Fresh off the injury lay-off, Josh Hazlewood did not mind one bit bowling on the greenish surface at the New PCA Stadium in New Chandigarh as the Australian helped Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat Punjab Kings to enter the 2025 IPL final.
The pacer took three wickets in what was his first match since April 27 as RCB bundled out Punjab Kings for 101 before chasing down the target in just ten overs with eight wickets in hand.
“I think the conditions were great to bowl first. Although the ball was still swinging and seaming throughout the game, I think whenever a new ball was bowled it was a bit unlucky. I think you just got to utilise that, probably from a batting point of view for Punjab, they probably just had to pull back a little bit and try and get a score on the board. You know, 150-160 would have been a difficult chase potentially, so yeah,” he said in the post-match press conference on Thursday.
Hazlewood, who missed a few games and went back to Australia nursing a shoulder injury, took the field on a surface where all he had to do was run in and hit the good length areas. And it helped as he, along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal, sent half the Punjab side back in the first seven overs. “Worked really hard the last few weeks on the shoulders to get back and got some good overs into it the last sort of 10 days, and yeah, it is feeling good to be back, so I was happy with tonight, the wickets helped obviously didn't it? Not having to bowl fast yorkers or anything like that. So yeah, I'm feeling good to be back,” said Hazlewood.
Apart from the injury concerns, there were questions on whether the Australian would return as he is expected to take the field in the World Test Championship final against South Africa on June 11. However, Hazlewood said no matter where he is, he is going to bowl and get some overs under the belt, so no better place to get ready than the IPL. “I've got to be bowling, you know, wherever I am in the world, I've got to be bowling, getting ready for that game anyway. There's no better place than I think out in the middle, obviously you've got to bowl more, more hours of training from time to time to build up for a Test, but to get that intensity right up, there's no better place than the IPL. I don't bowl too much differently in Test match cricket than tonight, so yeah,” he signed off.
