IPL 2026! Josh is high for the defending champs RCB!

RCB’s Josh Hazlewood celebrates the wicket of RR’s Yashasvi Jaiswal in Guwahati last month. Pic/IPL

Josh Hazlewood has had several standout performances for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in his IPL career. In 2026 itself, he took 1-20 against LSG [RCB won by five wickets] and 4-12 against DC [RCB won by nine wickets]. However, those are not the games Hazlewood remembers most fondly. He treasures the matches where he has fought back from being hit.

In RCB's last win against five-time champions Mumbai Indians on May 10, Hazlewood's first over went for 16 runs, but he still ended up with figures of 1-33. That's the kind of day Hazlewood looks back on with pride.

"When things are going well, like the Delhi game this year, it may sound weird, but it's not that difficult to bowl when you're on top," Hazlewood said during a conversation with select media in Raipur on Monday.

"You're not trying anything, you're just bowling good balls. You've earned that right through taking wickets. But it's the games where I think the batting team is really dominant and your first over might go for 20 and you fight back, take 2 for 40… I think those games are the ones I'm more proud of," added the Australian.

Hazlewood had a remarkable IPL 2025, and while he hasn't quite hit those heights in IPL 2026, he's confident the pieces are coming together for RCB. "We haven't really played our best cricket all in one game. I felt like we built nicely last year towards that back end. So, from now, if we can string a couple of games together and get on a roll, I think things can happen again."

RCB broke an 18-year drought in IPL 2025. Hazlewood is no stranger to being part of championship-winning sides, but this one was unique.

"It was special, in particular to do it for those guys that have been here 18 years. Even some of the sports staff had been here a long time… you had to really earn that first one," he said.

One of the 18-year veterans is Virat Kohli, who Hazlewood has had several great contests with on the field.

"You've got those sort of guys in your team that are so competitive," Hazlewood said, reflecting on how sharing the dressing room with Kohli was. "That's sort of the one thing that gets them up and about. For Australia, it's potentially Marnus [Labuschagne], someone who just loves cricket so much, so competitive on the field, wants to do everything at 110 per cent. I think Virat and Marnus are a little bit similar in their cricket styles. Even [Steve] Smithy's a bit like that as well."

4-12
Josh Hazlewood's figures vs DC - his best ever IPL figures, and the best figures by an RCB bowler so far this season

22
No. of wickets claimed by RCB in the Powerplay in IPL 2026 - the second-most by any team so far

32
No. of IPL wickets claimed by Josh Hazlewood since 2025 - the second-most by an RCB bowler after Bhuvneshwar Kumar (38)