We're hitting our straps at the right time of the tournament – Josh Hazlewood

RCB were entering the yard at Arun Jaitley Stadium on the back of a game that produced more than 520 runs. Fans were expecting to see at least something similar and were possibly anticipating a grandstand finish. However, Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar crippled the Delhi Capitals’ batting unit.

Hazlewood claimed four wickets, three of which came in the powerplay while Bhuvi registered three wickets too. Hazlewood completed his haul of fifty wickets for RCB, concluding with figures of 4/12 from 3.3 overs. His tally included the scalps of KL Rahul, Nitish Rana, Sameer Rizvi and eventually, Abhishek Porel. Hazlewood also walked away with the Player of the Match award for his defining spell.

Talking at the post-match presentation, Hazlewood shed light on the wicket in play while heaping praise on his partnership with Bhuvneshwar Kumar. He also opened up on the wickets that he claimed and what was the blueprint behind it all. He also explained about holding himself back for the final over of his quota and how it all worked out for RCB.

Shedding light on the overall game, Hazlewood said, “Yeah, I think, probably turning up here after 500-plus runs last game, probably weren't expecting what happened, but, yeah, it feels like Bhuvi and I have been pretty close to producing a really good powerplay. So yeah, I just followed his lead basically again and, yeah, what happened, happened, so it was a great result.”

Explaining how the wicket worked, Hazlewood added, “There was a little bit there in the first, you know, first six overs, which we maximised. I think there was a little bit up and down, maybe a little bit of sideways, so there was enough there to work with. The ball seemed to be skidding on quite quickly from short of a length in particular, and probably once the ball got soft, it became more consistent.”

Decoding his ploy to remove KL Rahul and Nitish Rana, Hazlewood stated, “Yeah, I think in general, you wanted the batter to try and hit the ball back down the wicket and play in the V. I felt like from that length and that line, a nice straight line, that was probably the most was in the wicket. And then obviously the short ball was nice as well. So it was just about the accuracy of the short ball in particular. But I think, no matter where you pitched, it sort of ended up at the right height. It was one of those wickets. So, yeah, I think when that ball was nice and hard, it was quite tough to bat.”

On whether he wanted to go forward with the fourth over, Hazlewood added, “
Yeah, it would have been nice to bowl four and then just get off the field. But no, I think the way we planned it out was nice. Our spinners got into the game, you know, dotted it up nicely. Suyash bowled beautifully again. KP, wily-old character. So, yeah, it feels like every box is getting ticked at the moment.”

He concluded by stating, “Yeah, I think we've just picked up from where we left off last year. I felt like, in particular in our away games, we summed up conditions nicely, nice and quickly, whether we batted or bowled first, and adapted our games accordingly. So we really went on a bit of a streak towards the back-end of last year and it feels like we're sort of hitting our straps now at the right time of the tournament, I think."