Hazlewood, the man who loves pressure

Bengaluru: Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Josh Hazlewood is a world-class bowler who can soak in the pressure in any format of the game and knows what delivery has to bowl at a particular moment, said head coach Andy Flower after the IPL side defeated Rajasthan Royals by 11 runs here.

RCB notched their first win in four games at home to rise to the No. 3 spot on the points table, with Hazlewood’s death-overs bowling making

a huge impact.

The Australian took four wickets and gave away only seven runs in his last two overs to return figures of 4-0-33-4 as RCB recorded their sixth win in nine matches.

“I would probably refer to both of his last overs because his two overs went for seven runs and he took three wickets in them. Both those overs showed the class of the guy,” Flower told the

media after the match.

“He’s a class operator, he’s a world-class bowler, he is great under pressure in any format of the game. 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,” he added.

Flower said the quality three-pronged pace attack was one of RCB’s biggest assets. RCB. “I thought Bhuvi’s (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) been superb this season and Yash (Dayal) was outstanding again today (Thursday), that last over. He showed outstanding skill and composure under pressure to repeatedly bowl yorkers like that,” Flower said.

“I think those three quicks have been great for us so far this season. I’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,” he said.

Flower said RCB must build on this win at home as they will now play three of their five remaining matches here at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.