Josh Hazlewood had a rare dismal night in the Indian Premier League, recording the worst stats of any bowler in the competition as the Punjab Kings(PBKS) defeated rivals Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 54 runs. The Australian fast bowler is generally very difficult to dismiss and has not surrendered over 36 runs in either of his past 8 IPL outings this campaign. Here in this article, we have talked about the Most Expensive Spell Of IPL 2022.
However, all of that overturned on Friday when he was trapped early and hammered for 64 runs off in his 4 overs with no wicket. He gave up 16 runs an over while doing so. Liam Livingstone & Jonny Bairstow both scored a stunning fifties to help the Kings triumph at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.
Hazlewood was the prime target for the Kings’ bowling attack. In the 2nd over of the game, Bairstow dominated the 31-year-old Hazlewood by smashing him for 4 fours and 2 sixes, resulting in a total of 22 runs scored off just that over.
Sometimes quality bowlers have to try to get them off their lengths: Bairstow on Josh
After giving only 7 runs in his 2nd over, Jitesh Sharma hammered him for 2 consecutive fours in his 11-run 3rd over. When Hazlewood returned to bowl in the 19th over of the innings, he was met by a firestorm in the form of Livingstone, who hammered him for 24 runs– including 2 fours and 2 maximums. His 4-0-64-0 statistics are much worse than Hyderabad’s Marco Jansen’s 0-63 versus Gujarat Titans previously in the competition.
“There are many quality bowlers in the IPL and sometimes you have to try to get them off their lengths because someone like him hits that length consistently. So you have to try to get him off that length into areas you want to be hitting”, said Bairstow on Josh Hazlewood.
Bairstow smashed 66 runs off 29 balls, featuring 7 sixes and 4 fours, while Livingstone scored 70 runs off 42 balls, featuring 4 sixes and 5 fours. Overall, these two enabled Punjab to compile a huge total of 209-9 runs.
For the time being, RCB maintains its position as one of the top four teams, although DC and PBKS are closing the gap quickly. But if it comes down to a fight between NRR and another team, things aren’t looking very promising and tough for them after this loss. In the last round of the league, which will take place in about a week, they will compete versus the table-toppers Gujarat Titans.
