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IPL 2025: Josh Hazlewood Reveals Biggest Change In RCB Set-Up
Follow UsRCB made an amazing start to their season, beating the titleholders by 7 wickets with 22 balls to spare
Josh Hazlewood, one of the stars for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 opening clash against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), felt that fresh faces in the lineup have been the biggest change in the side this year.
"It's a positive influence - fresh people, fresh mindset, I think it's big. You mention the last four losses to KKR, but I don't think anyone in the room would have known that because we gave us about six caps before the game started. That's like a fresh start almost,” Hazlewood said in the post-match press conference on March 22 (Saturday).
Talking about the new players, Hazlewood also lauded Phil Salt (who joined RCB this year from being part of KKR previously). He said, "It's a new cycle in the IPL, but those fresh players - Salt being one of those - played outstandingly.”
Salt made 56 off 31 balls and had an opening stand of 95 in just 8.3 overs with Virat Kohli.
Talking about his length and bowling patterns, Hazlewood, who finished with figures of 2/22 in his four overs and was instrumental, alongside Krunal Pandya and Suyash Sharma, in stopping KKR to 173/8, said, "It was more based on pitch and conditions. The full ball probably wasn't gonna do as much unless you were searching for the swing.”
“I found that it was sort of sticking in the wicket a little and the bounce was quite good. I like bowling here at Eden Gardens. And yeah, we just sort of stuck to our lengths,” added the big Aussie pacer.
Praising his bowling partners, Hazlewood said, “KP [Krunal] bowled beautifully through the middle. Luckily, I got to bowl to sort of the tail towards the end, but I think the hard lengths work best here most of the time.”
With Hazlewood, fitness has always been a worrying factor, and he is coming on the back of recovering from a calf injury. But the 34-year-old is sounding safe this time around.
"I feel like I got through the game very well. I know the intensity is through the roof, but it's only four overs. I feel I'll just keep building throughout the tournament and this is probably the freshest I've been in a long time. I've done a lot of work off the field to get back to this point, which was tough, but I think I am mentally and physically refreshed,” he said.
