We are very happy to have you back: Faf du Plessis after Josh Hazlewood makes comeback for RCB in IPL
May 02, 2023
Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], May 2 : Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Faf du Plessis praised Josh Hazlewood, who gave a winning performance on his return to the team in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). He said that the team is happy to have him back to the side.
In a low-scoring game, RCB defeated LSG by 18 runs at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Monday.
In the recent video posted by IPL, Faf said that RCB missed Hazlewood and he is a fantastic bowler to be back into the side.
"It is a good experience for him to show that he picks the game, whether the wicket is the worst one.....we really missed him, he is a fantastic bowler for the team, so we are very happy to have you back," RCB skipper said in a video posted by IPL.
The Australian bowler said on his performance that he felt good after playing on the field as he was sick of bowling in the nets.
"It feels good, just waited for the wicket like this (smiles), it was different from Chinnaswamy, it is nice to get out there as I was sick of bowling in nets," Hazlewood added.
The Lucknow pitch was difficult to bat on, but skipper Faf du Plessis's 44 off 40 balls and Virat Kohli's 31 off 30 balls and their steering batting in powerplay, provided RCB a defendable total of 126/9.
"I and Virat had assisted the condition, I felt like if we batted the way we bat at Chinnaswamy then we could have easily lost three wickets in the power play. So we were very clear to get through the spinner. I think scoring 50 without losing a wicket in the powerplay was a match-winning partnership," Faf said.
The outstanding performance from RCB bowlers bundled out LSG to 108.
Josh Hazlewood was the pick of the bowler for Bangalore, he had dismissed two batters conceding just 15 runs. Karn Sharma also took two wickets. Mohammed Siraj, Glenn Maxwell, Wanindu Hasaranga and Harshal Patel took one wicket each.
