Josh Hazlewood: RCB 'a bit slow' learning how to play at home

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) fast bowler Josh Hazlewood is "feeling better" with every passing game but continues to work on his rehab, having just returned to full fitness from calf and side strains prior to the start of IPL 2025.

Hazlewood, like the rest of the RCB squad, will have had less than 48 hours to recover between the end of their home game against Punjab Kings (PBKS) and the start of the reverse fixture in New Chandigarh.

"I've just felt better as the tournament has gone on," Hazlewood said after RCB's loss to PBKS in Bengaluru. "I've done quite a bit of work in the nets. In the games, I just feel better. My run up to the crease, rhythm - it's all been good. Hopefully that continues. I'm still doing a fair bit of work on the rehab side of things, but everything feels good."

Hazlewood is joint-second in the Purple Cap list for most wickets in IPL 2025, his 12 wickets coming at an economy 8.14. On Friday night, Hazlewood's season best of 3 for 14 kept RCB alive in their defence of 95 in a truncated 14-overs-a-side match, before they lost by five wickets.

In his second stint with RCB after missing IPL 2024, Hazlewood has formed an effective new-ball partnership with Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The pair has helped RCB become the best bowling unit in the powerplay so far this season.

"I think we've got highly skilled quicks in particular," Hazlewood said. "To bowl with someone like Bhuvi, who has been around for so long, he's so skilful at the start and end, it's great to learn from him. Just the variety we've got, we [him, Bhuvneshwar and Yash Dayal] are all a bit different."

'We're getting there, but probably not quick enough'

When asked about RCB's losing all three matches at home so far, Hazlewood said the team had been a "bit slow on the learnings from the first two games", where the batters went hard on a two-paced pitch and made 163 and 169 respectively against Gujarat Titans (GT) and Delhi Capitals (DC). On Friday night, RCB managed just 95 in their 14 overs, but were briefly in the game before Nehal Wadhera muscled PBKS home with 11 balls to spare.

"It's just we've probably been a bit slow on the learnings from the first two games and didn't put that into practice as well as we could have," Hazlewood said. "Probably in particular in those first six to eight overs with the score the way it was.

"So, again, we'll dive into this game probably more so when we get back to Bangalore and really go through in detail and with a fine-toothed comb and come up with a few ideas of where we can learn and improve. But I think the bowling definitely improved from the last two outings. So sort of we're slowly getting there, but probably not quick enough."

Hazlewood wasn't able to explain why the M Chinnaswamy Stadium hasn't been a high-scoring venue this season, but said that bowling between the six- and eight-metre length was the way to go.

"The bounce has always been there, but it's in past years that it's probably been more consistent," Hazlewood said. "I find if you really hit the wicket hard on that six to eight metres, it's quite tough to bat and we've found that. So maybe it might be a case of pulling back a touch and having a look, giving yourself a little bit of time.

"I know in the first two games we lost here it was, you know, a batter on the other team going big and getting a partnership and scoring big late in the game. So if we can have our top five-six doing the batting for the 20 overs, I think that'll go a long way to helping us win."