RCB high on Josh

Midway through Rajasthan Royals’ run-chase at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday night, it seemed as if Royal Challengers Bengaluru were headed for a fourth successive home defeat. Riyan Parag’s men were making a strong fist of hunting down the hosts’ 205 for five, having reached 110 for two after nine overs.

Krunal’s impactful bowling

That’s when the first of many twists unspooled. Parag was dismissed off the first ball of the 10th over by left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya, whose four unchanged overs pegged the visitors back and left them needing 40 to get off the last three overs. That became 18 from two when Bhuvneshwar Kumar was smashed for 22 in the 18th over by Dhruv Jurel and Shubham Dubey. But in a final, decisive passage, Josh Hazlewood got rid of Jurel and Jofra Archer off successive deliveries in a 19th over that went for just one (this after packing off Shimron Hetmyer in the 17th), and Yash Dayal expertly closed out the last over to restrict Rajasthan to 194 for nine and consign them to a fifth straight defeat, this time by 11 runs. Their sixth win of the season catapulted Rajat Patidar’s men to third in the standings.

Andy Flower

Hazlewood had been sent on a hiding to nothing in his first spell by Yashasvi Jaiswal, whose 19-ball 49 and an opening stand of 52 in 26 deliveries with 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi had got Rajasthan off to a flier. Hazlewood had the last laugh, though, hurrying Jaiswal on the pull and forcing him to hole out to mid-wicket, the first indication that the Aussie’s night was about to change.

The tall right-arm quick extracted excellent bounce, like Archer had done previously, and turned the game on its head by taking three for seven in the 17th and 19th overs combined. Reward for his heroics was the Player of the Match award for figures of four for 33.

‘Josh has great skills’

“Both those overs showed the class of the guy,” Andy Flower, the RCB head coach, crooned. “He’s a class operator, he’s a world-class bowler. He is great under pressure in any format of the game, he thinks clearly and he’s got great skill. I know he’s known for his heavy length bowling, but he’s got some great all-round skills. He mixes in those yorkers, wide yorkers, slower balls and he seems to know what type of ball to bowl at the right time. It’s great having a guy like him in our side, in our squad and part of a very strong three-pronged attack.”

The other two pace cogs are Dayal and the experienced Bhuvneshwar, whose expensive last over didn’t cloud Flower’s opinion. “Bhuvi’s been superb this season and Yash was outstanding again today. That last over (with 17 needed), he showed outstanding skill and composure under pressure to repeatedly bowl yorkers. Those three quicks have been great for us so far this season. They’ve got some more work to do, obviously, to help us in this last third of the league matches and Hazlewood certainly leads from the front in that regard.”