Follow UsRoyal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) had a flawless night in Qualifier 1 of the Indian Premier League 2025 on May 29, 2025 (Thursday), against Punjab Kings (PBKS), securing their fourth IPL final appearance. Bowlers had an amazeball performance throughout, at one point reducing PBKS to 60/7, eventually bundling them out for 101.
Australian seamer Josh Hazlewood did the early damage, scalping three wickets before Suyash Sharma spewed venom with the ball to make the Shreyas Iyer-led team pay. Hazlewood credited the conditions and role clarity as the major factors behind such a dominating performance.
"The bowling unit was obviously back to the unit that bowled for most of the tournament, and again, we knew our roles really well. But a little bit in the wicket to be honest, there was a little bit of seam movement, the bounce was probably a little bit inconsistent, so we sort of utilised that as best as we could,” Hazlewood said in the post-match press conference.
"Yeah, I think the conditions were… it was great to bowl first, I think, although we saw swing and seam throughout the whole game. Whenever a new ball was bowled, there was a bit happening, so you've just got to utilise that."
Once the early damage was done, Punjab failed to arrest the collapse, which Hazlewood thinks cost the former big-time. According to the Australian seamer, even a total like 150-160 could have been a challenging total to chase.
"Probably from the Kings’ point of view, 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. But I think we only let them bat as well as they could have, through our bowling," the seamer added.