Before the Indian Premier League (IPL) playoff game, many people asked if Josh Hazlewood was fit to play. Hazlewood, an Australian player, returned after missing a month due to a shoulder injury. On Thursday, he showed why everyone was interested in his fitness by helping Bengaluru almost win their first IPL title.
Hazlewood took 3 wickets for just 21 runs against Punjab Kings. Bengaluru, who have lost the IPL final three times before, quickly bowled out Punjab for only 101 runs. Then, Bengaluru chased the target in just 10 overs and won the match, reaching the final on Tuesday.
The pitch gave the bowlers some help with swing and bounce. Hazlewood took important wickets, including those of Australian teammate Josh Inglis and Punjab’s captain Shreyas Iyer. These key wickets made it hard for Punjab to fight back.
After the win, Hazlewood said, “Our bowling team knew their roles well. The pitch had some movement and uneven bounce, so we tried to use that to our advantage.”
Hazlewood has taken 21 wickets in 11 games this season. He is the third highest wicket-taker, behind Noor Ahmed (24 wickets) and Prasidh Krishna (23 wickets), who have both played more matches.
Hazlewood also said the pitch at Mullanpur was lively and that a score around 150 runs could have been tough to chase. “Punjab probably needed to be careful and aim for about 150-160 runs, which would have been a hard target,” he said. “But I think we only allowed them to score as much as they did because of our bowling.”
The pitch also helped Hazlewood not to push himself too hard as he returned from injury. “I didn’t have to bowl very fast yorkers or anything too difficult, so I’m feeling okay,” he added.
