Hazlewood helped RCB reach their first IPL final since 2016.
Josh Hazlewood’s decision to join Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) after an injury break has proved to be a blessing for the franchise and good preparation for the Australian pacer, who believes the intensity he is building up by playing in the business end of IPL 2025 will benefit him during the WTC final against South Africa next month.
Having recovered from a shoulder injury, Hazlewood featured in the IPL after a month but showed no signs of rust, helping RCB reach their first final since 2016 with an eight-wicket win over Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Qualifier 1.
"...I've got to be bowling, you know wherever I am in the world, I've got to be bowling getting ready for that game (WTC final) anyway," said Hazlewood in the post-match presser.
"There's no better place than I think out in the middle, obviously you've got to bowl more, more hours of training from time to time to build up for a Test, but to get that intensity right up, there's no better place than the IPL," he added.
Hazlewood returned with the figures of 3 for 31 in his 3.1 overs, which helped RCB bowled PBKS out for a paltry 101 runs in 14.1 overs at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur.
His victims included the in-form Shreyas Iyer and Josh Inglis, breaking the back of Punjab’s batting line-up.
"I don't bowl too much differently in Test match cricket than tonight," said the seasoned Australian pacer.
Despite playing only 11 games due to injury, Hazlewood remains the leading wicket-taker for his franchise with 21 scalps at an average of 15.80.
Commenting on his recovery from the shoulder injury, the 34-year-old said, "(I have) worked really hard the last few weeks on the shoulders to get back and got some good overs into it the last sort of 10 days, and yeah it is feeling good to be back...
"...So, I was happy with tonight, the wicket helped obviously didn't it? Not having to bowl fast yorkers or anything like that. So yeah it is feeling good to be back."
Apart from Hazlewood, leg-spinner Suyash Sharma (3-17 in 3 overs) picked up three wickets for RCB while Yash Dayal (2-26 in 4 overs), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1-17 in 2 overs) and Romario Shepherd (1-5 in 1 over) shared the remaining four scalps among them.
"We've just got all bases covered, it feels like. I think any one of the five or six bowlers can bowl at any moment of the game, whether it's the start, middle or end," said Hazlewood.
"It obviously helps having Bhuvi, who has so much experience, quite a calm customer, so that sort of rubs off on the rest of their attack. I'm probably pretty similar to Bhuvi as well in that regard, everything's quite relaxed, quite calm, focus on your skill and try and execute that.
"I think maybe a few of the younger guys in the attack have picked up on that and taken it into their own games."
There was swing and seam on offer and RCB made the most of the conditions and restricted the opposition to a below-par score.
"There was a little bit of seam movement, the bounce was probably a little bit inconsistent, so we sort of utilised that as best we could. Yeah, the conditions were great to bowl first.
"Then obviously Suyash went for the middle order, he has bowled really well in spells throughout the whole tournament, but has been a little bit unlucky in the wicket-taking front, but obviously tonight got on a roll," he concluded.
(With PTI Inputs)