Hazlewood gets RCB out of jail against RR in IPL thriller

Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat Rajasthan Royals at M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday, with Josh Hazlewood’s death bowling making the difference in an 11-run win.

RCB batted first and put on a healthy 205/5 thanks largely to Virat Kohli (70 from 42) and Devdutt Padikkal (50 from 27).

Kohli shared a 61-run stand with fellow opener Phil Salt (26 from 23) initially, before adding a further 95 runs for the second wicket alongside Padikkal.

While RR did well to ensure RCB were unable to run away with the match in the final overs, Tim David (23 from 15) and Jitesh Sharma (20* from 10) kept the run rate sitting just above 10 an over to post a target of 206 for the visitors.

In response, Rajasthan lost wickets more frequently but kept themselves in the hunt with double-digit contributions from each of their top seven batsmen.

Yashasvi Jaiswal (49 from 19) got RR off to a fast start, putting on 52 runs off the first 4.1 overs before Vaibhav Suryavanshi (16 from 12) fell.

Nitish Rana (28 from 22), Riyan Parag (22 from 10) and Dhruv Jurel (47 from 34) then took RR to within striking range of their target, with just 46 runs needed off the final four overs.

An impressive 17th over from Hazlewood pumped up the asking rate, however, with the Aussie pacer conceding just six runs and claiming the scalp of Shimron Hetmyer (11 from 8).

Live cricket betting odds swung back towards RR when Jurel and Shubham Dubey (12 from 7) plundered 22 runs from the 18th, leaving just 18 needed from 12 balls.

But Hazlewood rose to the occasion and produced an even better 19th over, this time conceding just one run and taking two wickets.

This set up a tense final over with 17 runs needed and IPL bookies suddenly favouring RCB.

Yash Dayal got the job done, taking a further two wicket and leaking just five runs as the hosts went on to win by 11 runs.

• 

  Fast Payouts

“It was a much-needed win,” RCB captain Patidar said.

“Today the wicket was different, as we had expected.

“All the credit goes to the bowlers how they came back after the 10th over.

“The way they showed courage was tremendous.

“I think initially RR batted beautifully, credit goes to them.

“At some point we felt that it would be a tight match and we were just searching for wickets.

“Only if you get wickets you can stop runs.

“I always back my instincts first but we have a group of great leaders, so their thoughts and inputs are really helping us.”

The victory takes RCB to third on the IPL ladder and third in outright betting as well.

BetOnline prices the side at $4.75 to win the title in 2025, behind Mumbai Indians ($3.75) and Gujarat Titans ($4.50).

Sports news