Bengaluru: The unrelenting Josh Hazlewood fashioned Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s first win at home this IPL season with an extraordinary penultimate over as his team beat Rajasthan Royals by 11 runs in a see-saw affair here on Thursday.
The defeat meant RR are out of the reckoning for a place in playoffs berth in the ongoing edition of the league. They have lost seven matches out of nine.
Coming on to bowl with RR needing 18 off 12 deliveries, Hazlewood (4/33) picked up two wickets in as many balls while giving away just one run, as the visitors were stopped at 194/9 in a chase of 206 at a packed Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Hazlewood’s heroics meant Yashasvi Jaiswal’s (49 off 19 balls) blazing knock at the top of the order and Dhruv Jurel’s (47 off 34 balls) valiant effort went in vain as RR suffered their fifth defeat on the trot.
This was after RCB star batter Virat Kohli (70 off 42 balls) and Devdutt Padikkal (50 off 27 balls) controlled the middle overs with a partnership of 95 for the second wicket.
Set a target of 206, RR’s start was brutal with Jaiswal and 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi amassing 52 runs in 27 balls before the latter was bowled by a Bhuvneshwar Kumar knuckle ball after the teenager went for one too many, having hit two sixes in his 16-run knock.
Suryavanshi was RR’s impact player.
Jaiswal, who began the RR innings with a six on the leg side off Bhuvneshwar, smashed Yash Dayal for 18 runs as the visitors started the chase in earnest.
The swashbuckling Jaiswal then went after Hazlewood and clobbered the experienced Australian pacer for three successive fours in an eventful over that also comprised three dot balls. Not content with his punishment of Hazlewood, Jaiswal hit the Australian for two more fours and a six over the keeper.
However, after being taken to the cleaners, Hazlewood had the last laugh as he cut short Jaiswal’s whirlwind stay when he crammed the batter for room and forced him to pull one straight to Romario Shepherd at midwicket.
RR, nevertheless, had raced to 72/2 by the end of powerplay as Riyan Parag (22 off 10 balls) walked into the middle. Parag looked in the mood on the night and smoked Suyash Sharma, RCB’s impact sub, for a six over deep square-leg.
Brief scores: RCB: 205/5 (Kohli 70, Padikkal 50; Sandeep 2/45); RR: 194/9 (Jaiswal 49, Jurel 47; Hazlewood (4/33), Krunal 2/31).