Josh Hazlewood: evolving as a T20 bowler

Some players who were considered less impactful earlier developed themselves with their hard work and perseverance to emerge as one the great players of the season so far. Out of many names, Josh Hazlewood is a name that has amazed everyone with his exceptional skills and groundbreaking bowling figures. 

IPL 2022 for Hazlewood, so far

With 13 wickets in eight matches at an average of 16.00 and an economy of 6.82, the Australian fast bowler has emerged as the most influential overseas pacer in the league's current season. Hazelwood certainly has the extensive game experience and temperament required to make a splash in the big leagues. On these bouncy pitches in Mumbai and Pune, he takes wickets with the new ball and restricts the batters at death. In the UAE leg of IPL last year, we saw an upgraded version of Hazlewood in Chennai Super Kings as he clinched 11 wickets in 9 matches at 26.63 and an economy of 8.37. Due to this brilliancy, the Challengers went for the 31-year-old right-arm pacer in the mega auction this year. They bagged Hazelwood at a whopping Rs.7.75 cr to have him in the squad. And so far, with his performance, Hazlewood has justified every penny of the INR 7.75 cr RCB paid for him.

Josh's classic bowling over multiple variations

In these shorter formats, a bowler needs multiple variations to trick any batter, and thus, ultimately, bowlers with huge variations succeed more than the classic bowler. However, Hazlewood is not someone who would rack up crazy variations like Dwayne Bravo or Harshal Patel. He also doesn't possess the pace of Jofra Archer or Kagiso Rabada. Unlike these bowlers, Hazlewood often hits the deck hard on his intended line and on that three-quarter length (also known as the Test match length in T20s) with a pace close to the 140 kmph mark.

In these T20 formats, everyone expects a bowler to be unpredictable to be successful. However, if you look at Josh Hazelwood, he has done the most intelligent thing by being predictable. The hard lengths are likely to go for runs on wickets that don't offer much assistance making it big trouble for any batsman. Hazelwood's outings in the T20 World Cup and a successful run with CSK proved that when executed with perfection, Test match lengths can be more than handy in the 20-over format.

Since 2021, Hazelwood has not just been a consistent performer across different phases in the shortest format, but he has also bowled game-breaking spells. In this period, he has clinched 23 wickets at an average and economy rate of 21.08 and 6.38, respectively, in the powerplay overs of the T20 format. In the end overs, he has grabbed 20 wickets at an average of 15.65.

RCB's ace card in bowling!

Hazelwood has been one of the most critical assets for RCB this season, and it can be determined by the fact that he has been consistently used across the three phases of the innings - PowerPlay, middle overs and the death. In the PowerPlay overs, his economy rate stands at 5.53, which is quite impressive for a bowler of his caliber, while in the slog, he has bagged six wickets at 18.16 so far. In the middle overs, he has been top-notch with five wickets to his name. Looking at the numbers, it's pretty sure that Hazlewood is one of the form bowlers in RCBs camp. We can surely expect the ever-evolving pacer to be at the forefront of the franchise in subsequently lifting their maiden trophy.

At 6'5", Hazlewood is a tall bowler with high-arm action. He pounds it hard into the deck and can hit the bat high up on the splice. He has the right weapon for modern-day T20 cricket, with the hard length acting as a buffer for the bowler.