It’s just clear planning and execution, says Hazlewood

“It's just clear planning, obviously, first of all, and then clear execution and committing to that delivery you're trying to bowl. So just nice, clear mindsets. And yeah, we've been doing that nicely,” Hazlewood said.

Hyderabad: “I think as a unit we’ve worked really well. I think everyone knows their role, everyone is different. The combination is great, it’s got some good variation, so everyone’s got different strengths and it’s just about using them at the right times,” Josh Hazlewood, the star pacer of Royal Challengers Bengaluru who bowled an impressive spell of 3.1-0-21-3 to help the team drub Punjab Kings in the IPL Qualifier 1 on Thursday night.

“It’s just clear planning, obviously, first of all, and then clear execution and committing to that delivery you’re trying to bowl. So just nice, clear mindsets. And yeah, we’ve been doing that nicely,” Hazlewood said.

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“I guess, throughout the innings, which we saw tonight. So, we’re in a pretty good place, I think, as a bowling unit. I think I probably just picked up on the momentum from the last game, I think a little bit,” he said in the post-match briefing.

“There was a little bit in the wicket, to be honest, there was a little bit of seam movement, the bounce was probably a little bit inconsistent. So we sort of utilised that as best we could,” said Hazlewood who now has 21 wickets from 11 games to be the third highest wicket-taker this season after Noor Mohammed of Chennai Super Kings (24) and Prasidh Krishna of Gujarat Titans (23).

“Suyash (leg-spinner) bowled really well in spells throughout the whole tournament, but has been a little bit unlucky on the wicket taking front, but obviously tonight got the rewards,” he said.

“ Probably from a batting point from Kings XI, they probably just had to pull back a little bit and try and get a score on the board, you know, 150, 160 would have been a difficult chase potentially,” the Australian pace ace said.

“On the injury layoff, I worked really hard the last few weeks on the shoulder to get back and got some good overs into it in the last sort of 10 days. And, it’s not too bad,” he said.

“I’ve got to be bowling, you know, wherever I am in the world, I’ve got to be bowling, getting ready for that game anyway. (5:00) So there’s no better place than, I think, out in the middle,” Hazlewood said.

“I think any one of the five or six bowlers can bowl in any moment of the game, whether it be the start, middle or end. I think it obviously helps having Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) with so much experience, quite a calm customer. So that sort of rubs off on the rest of the attack,” he said.

“But I think when it comes down to making decisions, you know, bowling changes, what delivery we’re trying to bowl, we’re very relaxed and calm,” he said.