Josh Hazlewood hopes that his return to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) will lead the franchise to the elusive Indian Premier (IPL) trophy. Although Hazlewood has been with RCB since 2022, he wasn’t available last edition and wasn’t retained before the IPL 2025 auction. Now that’s re-bought by RCB for Rs 12.50 crore, the fast bowler hopes that they can win the title for the first time in 18 years.
Hazlewood, happy to return
“I just want to say how excited I am to be back at RCB this year. We have got the best fans in the competition. Every game feels like a home game. I can’t wait to play for RCB again. I think we can go all the way next year,” Hazlewood said while thanking the franchise.
Hazlewood doesn’t have a huge IPL resume. At 33, he’s just featured in 27 matches. Luckily for RCB, he’s always reserved his best for them. Although the tall pacer hasn’t played a full season, the only time he came close to playing the whole season (2022), Hazlewood bagged 20 wickets.
Josh Hazlewood RCB stats
| Span | Matches | Wickets | Average | Economy | Strike Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-2023 | 15 | 23 | 19.69 | 8.16 | 14.47 |
Given his troubles with injury, RCB would hope he remains fit and forms a formidable bowling attack alongside Yash Dayal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rasikh Dar Salam, and Nuwan Thushara. With either Dayal or Bhuvi, he can take over the powerplay overs and might be more than handy in the middle overs as well. His pinpoint control would certainly help at what’s usually a batting paradise at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. It now depends on whether he’s at his best come IPL 2025 season.
RCB squad for IPL 2025
Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Yash Dayal, Liam Livingstone✈️, Phil Salt✈️, Jitesh Sharma, Josh Hazlewood✈️, Rasikh Dar Salam, Suyash Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Swapnil Singh, Tim David✈️, Romario Shepherd✈️, Nuwan Thushara✈️, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethell✈️, Devdutt Padikkal, Swastik Chhikara, Lungi Ngidi, Abhinandan Singh, Mohit Rathee
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