Josh Hazlewood reveals key plan behind RCB’s triumph against CSK

Josh Hazlewood dished out a second consecutive masterclass in IPL 2025 as he broke down the spine of CSK’s top-order in his very first over itself. He finished the game with figures of 3/21, registering the crucial scalps of Rahul Tripathi, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ravindra Jadeja.

Ahead of IPL 2025, there were serious injury concerns for Hoff which saw him being ruled out of the Champions Trophy. However, Hazlewood just arrived in time and has now racked up his fifth wicket in the tournament, moving up to the third position of the leading wicket-taker list after the first two matches.

Talking in an interview following the game, Hazlewood underlined how it has so far gone for him in the IPL and how the utilization of the conditions have been a major boon to the Royal Challengers. He also heaped praise on Yash Dayal who bowled exceptionally well against Chennai Super Kings, dealing an important double whammy that left CSK hamstrung in the middle overs.

Shedding light on the conditions, he said, “It (the ball is coming out nicely) is. I am nice and fresh. As a group we were outstanding. We used the conditions nicely against KKR and did the same tonight. With this wicket it was a little bit up and down, two-paced and we tried to hit that in between length.”

He further added, “The energy is always great at RCB and it has led into the fielding group, it really lifts us. Any time you get injured you feel down, but I used it wisely, doing fitness and being fresh. Having a left-armer (Yash Dayal) is crucial and we see that with every team, he has a good change of pace and is a class act.”