NEWS
Follow UsJosh Hazlewood has been one of the standout performers for Royal Challengers Bangalore this season. While he missed a couple of games due to national duty, the right-arm pacer has made an immediate impact in the tournament with his exploits in the powerplay.
Chasing 182, Marcus Stoinis was dismissed on the second ball of the 19th over after he shuffled way too much outside off stump, an act prompted by the previous Josh Hazlewood delivery that landed almost off the pitch. With Stoinis going way across, the pacer went beyond the tramline and bowled it way outside off but the umpire, instead of calling it wide, deemed the delivery legal, much to the batter's chagrin. Hazlewood, however, admitted that he "got pretty lucky" with his very wide delivery that was not called wide by the umpire.
"I tried to turn around and get back to my mark as quick as I could. I got pretty lucky on that one so I might have to get him a beer after that," Hazlewood said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Hazlewood finished with excellent figures of 4/25 as RCB emerged comfortable winners by 18 runs. RCB skipper Faf du Plessis played his part with a fine 96, lifting them to 181 for six after early hiccups. The 37-year-old former South Africa skipper was tiring but he carried on until almost the end of their innings.
"I got a few 96, and a 97, so hopefully (a ton) is around the corner. We needed someone to stabilise the innings and then get going at the back end. Today, grateful that I could do it. Important that I am able to follow my blueprint of batting. If you bowled slow into the wicket to the big boundary, it never felt like you had enough power to clear that boundary. I was tired, but was still hoping that I could hit some at the end," du Plessis said.
