Australian paceman Josh Hazlewood starred in the Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s 11 run IPL win at home against the Rajasthan Royals.
Chasing 206 to win after RCB’s 205-5, Rajasthan looked comfortable before Dhruv Jurel was dismissed by Hazlewood (4-33) in the 19th over of the chase.
Jurel scored a 34-ball 47 and was removed with 17 needed off 9 balls for the win.
Hazlewood removed England’s Jofra Archer on the next ball, leaving the Royals reeling with 17 needed off the final over.
Earlier, Indian batting superstar Virat Kohli hit a 42-ball 70 to steer Bengaluru to a par score on a batting friendly Bengaluru wicket.
Openers Kohli and Phil Salt raced to 59-0 in the powerplay before Salt was removed on 26 in the seventh over with the team on 61-1.
Kohli then built an important 95 run partnership with Devdutt Padikkal before finally falling in the 16th over to Archer.
Padikkal, who was batting very well, fell soon after a 27-ball 50, with RCB on 161-3.
Quick wickets towards the end took away the momentum before key cameos by Tim David (23) and Jitesh Sharma, who remained unbeaten on 20.
Archer was Rajasthan’s standout bowler and finished with 33-1. Sandeep Sharma took 2-45 and Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga finished with 1-30.
Rajasthan’s young top-order batsmen started really well and stayed ahead of the required run rate for the first half of the chase.
Indian Test opener Yashasvi Jaiswal hit 19-ball 49 before he was removed by Hazlewood.
His opening partner, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, fell early on 16 to India veteran Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who finished with 1-50 in his four-over spell.
Spinner Krunal Pandya bowled an important spell and removed both Nitish Rana (28) and Royals captain Riyan Parag (22) who looked dangerous after the fall of initial wickets.
Rajasthan were cruising before Rana’s wicket in the 14th over but their batsmen failed to convert starts into a score to help their team cross the finish line.
“I think we did really well with the ball … We held them back really well,” Parag said. “With the batting, I thought at the halfway mark we were in the driving seat. But we have ourselves to blame … We were in the driving seat and we let it slip.”
Man of the Match Hazlewood said that he “was just sticking to my strengths”.
“I knew hard lengths were hard to hit so I was mixing that up with yorkers, change of pace,” he added.
© Agence France-Presse
Photo: Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images
