Rajasthan Royals slumped to their fifth straight loss as they were beaten by Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Thursday. RR found themselves in a good position with solid knocks from Yashasvi Jaiswal and Dhruv Jurel but with 18 runs needed to win from 12 balls, the team completely lost the plot. RR ended up scoring just one run from the penultimate over bowled by Josh Hazlewood and were beaten by 11 runs. This was yet another narrow loss for RR after similar results against Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants. Legendary India batter Sunil Gavaskar was not happy with the team’s performance and he namedropped head coach Rahul Dravid in his brutal verdict.
“With Rajasthan Royals, I’m actually talking about the earlier matches where I wasn’t at the ground—I just saw them. So, you’re not always able to get the feeling of what’s really happening. But here, I was at the ground, and you could actually see the kind of cricket that was being played. And with someone like Rahul Dravid as the coach, it was quite baffling—it was unthinking cricket. Dravid was always so precise in his thinking, and I would’ve thought that kind of approach would’ve seeped into some of the Rajasthan batters,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports.
“Where is the thought process there? You can’t expect inexperienced players to always get it right, but still… It’s just a different kind of cricket,” he added.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) seamer Josh Hazlewood delivered a match-defining spell to help his team edge past Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 11 runs in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 clash at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. Hazlewood was named ‘Player of the Match’ for his brilliant figures of 4/33, as he used his accuracy and variations to break the back of the Royals’ chase.
“First of all, it was about sticking to your strengths,” Hazlewood said after the match.
“I knew the hard length was tough to hit on this wicket, mixing it up with the odd yorker, the slower balls, and the order in which to bowl them was the way to go,” he added.
Hazlewood also praised the RCB bowling unit, highlighting how well-rounded the attack is.
“I love our bowling attack. I feel we have covered every base. Everyone has their days, and we are doing well,” he said.
The Australian seamer also spoke about the surface in Bengaluru, noting its unique challenge for batters.
“The bounce is quite steep here throughout the whole tournament. Getting that score was phenomenal. I feel that was well above par and the guys did a really great job,” he noted.
(With ANI inputs)
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