Australian ex- captain Aaron Finch praised Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) pacer Josh Hazlewood thanks to his effective outing in the IPL 2026 game between Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). Finch gave the old pacer high accolade on how consistent he is on that he is hardly costly.
In match 23 of IPL 2026, RCB slumped by five wickets to LSG at M Chinnaswamy stadium on Wednesday, April 15. Bowling was the first to be defeated by the Bengaluru franchise to LSG by 146 runs and so they pursued the target in 15.1 overs. Hazlewood removed Nicholas Pooran, and ended with fine scores of for 1-20 in his 4 overs.
In a chat with ESPNcricinfo, Finch gave his opinion about the effectiveness of Hazlewood as an IPL bowler and said:
“The most important thing is that every team that he has played for, whether it has been MI, CSK, where he has won a title, you know what you are going to get day in and day out. That’s what you want as a captain. He’ll run in and he’ll bowl the same stuff day after day and get the results. No one is surprised any time he does well. Because you have to bat really well [against him]. Very rarely do you see him go for 50.”
Rasikh Salam Dar scored 4-24, Bhuvneshwar Kumar scored 3-27, Krunal Pandya scored 2-38, and Hazlewood was selected Player of the Match for his economical spell against LSG.
“They were just going for everything” – Ambati Rayudu questions LSG batters’ tactics in IPL 2026 match vs RCB
During the Indian Premier League 2026 clash against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, former India batter Ambati Rayudu criticised Lucknow Super Giants for their batting approach. He pointed out that the pitch offered some assistance to the bowlers; however, LSG failed to adapt and instead pushed aggressively for a high total. Elaborating on his view, he said:
“Good teams assess the conditions really well when you are batting first. I didn’t see anything of that sort happen in the Lucknow batting order. They were just going for everything. You knew that the ball was actually stopping in the pitch. It was bouncing a little more and just gripping a little bit. You know it’s a 170 wicket. You need to play as if you are chasing 170 or 180.”
Mitchell Marsh scored 40 from 32 balls to lead LSG in scoring against RCB. Ayush Badoni scored 38 off 24 balls, while Mukul Choudhary struck 39 off 28.
