[WATCH]- Virat Kohli Rushes To Hug Josh Hazlewood After RCB’s Thrilling Win Over RR In IPL 2025

After Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) secured a thrilling victory over Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday, April 24, star batter Virat Kohli rushed to embrace Josh Hazlewood. The 36-year-old Kohli ran to the Australian fast bowler and lifted him in celebration of their first home win of the IPL 2025 season.

Hazlewood played a crucial role in RCB’s dramatic comeback. With just 18 runs needed from the final 12 balls, and the Royals having scored 22 runs in the previous over, the veteran seamer delivered a match-changing over.

He dismissed the in-form Dhruv Jurel for 47 and followed it up by taking the wicket of Jofra Archer on the very next ball. Hazlewood gave away only one run in the over, helping RCB secure an 11-run victory. You can watch the video here:

𝙀𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 that speak louder than words 🥳#TATAIPL | #RCBvRR | @imVkohli | @RCBTweets pic.twitter.com/Q4B09fkllE

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 24, 2025

Virat Kohli hugs Josh Hazlewood as RCB get their 1st home win of the season !!#RCBvRR #RCBvsRR pic.twitter.com/9qdsGx2fRe

— Cricketism (@MidnightMusinng) April 24, 2025

Earlier in the match, Virat Kohli played a key role in helping RCB set a challenging target of 205/5 after Rajasthan Royals’ captain Riyan Parag won the toss and chose to bowl. The former RCB captain top-scored with an impressive 70 off 42 balls and partnered with Devdutt Padikkal, who made 50, to put together a crucial 95-run stand.

“I understood that hitting on the hard length would be challenging on this wicket”: Josh Hazlewood

Josh Hazlewood was named Player of the Match for his impressive figures of 4-0-33-4. After the game, he attributed the success of his game-changing 19th over to his use of change-ups. The 34-year-old also praised the batters for providing the bowlers with just the right conditions to work with.

He shared his thoughts during the post-match presentation (via Cricbuzz):

“First of all was sticking to your strengths. Knew the hard length was tough to hit on this wicket, mixing it up with the odd yorker, the slower balls and the order in which to bowl them was the way to go. Opportunity to play the format, did not have the opportunity with Test cricket and then ODI cricket.”

“First it is Sydney Sixers, CSK and now RCB, these are the three teams majorly and a bit for Australia as well. Taking information from different pieces and putting it all together. One of the big keys for us is to get the information to the group as well. I love our bowling attack. The bounce is quite steep here throughout the whole tournament, getting that score was phenomenal.”

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