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Josh Hazlewood wins another final: The reigning champions, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), faced the Gujarat Titans (GT) in the final of the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. RCB made it two IPL wins in a row as Virat Kohli closed the game in style, making them the third club to defend their crown.
Rajat Patidar won the toss and chose to field first, as they faced the same squad from the previous game. However, Shubman Gill made one alteration, replacing R Sai Kishore with Arshad Khan. The stadium was crowded with supporters cheering on their sides.
Josh Hazelwood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar sent back GT openers
When chosen to bat first, the Titans got off to a good start, with Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan returning in the next overs for scores of 10 and 12 runs, respectively. The RCB bowling squad was in fantastic form, particularly Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, and Jacob Duffy. Even Jos Buttler battled, as he returned for 19 runs.
Washington Sundar scored a fifty in 37 balls as they posted 155/8 in their 20 overs, with Sundar being unbeaten till the end on a wicket which was much slower and the ball was stopping in the first innings. Josh Hazlewood bowled brilliantly, picking two wickets each alongside Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Josh Hazlewood picked the wickets of Arshad Khan and GT skipper Gill.
Josh Hazlewood yet to lose a white-ball final
While chasing, it was the chase master Virat Kohli who guided RCB to their second trophy. He played an unbeaten knock of 75 runs. After the match, Hazlewood was there celebrating with his teammates. Josh Hazlewood has now won all 8 major white-ball finals he has played in and is yet to lose a white-ball tournament final in his career.
He said after the win, “That’s right up there. I think obviously a little bit more relaxed within the group this year. We sort of got the monkey off the back last year in terms of a long wait for that first win. But I think the group just felt calm and composed throughout the whole tournament, really. Someone stepped up when they needed to be.”
Josh Hazlewood added, “I think we had, again, like 10 Man of the Match awards. So amazing depth in the squad. Anyone who came in did a great job and the bowling group is pretty special. (on the impact of the bowling attack and Bhuvneshwar Kumar) I can’t remember a game where he went for over 35 runs.”
We could relax- Hazlewood after winning another trophy with RCB
“In this day and age, it’s unbelievable. He got wickets up front in nearly every game we played and just took the heat off, I think, the rest of us. We could relax and, you know, we were bowling at numbers four and five in the powerplay. So it’s pretty nice. (on what the franchise and support staff mean to the group) Yeah, I think the franchise has been put together beautifully.”
“You know, not just the players, but I think the support staff as well. Again, it’s a nice, relaxed atmosphere to play your best, to try and play your best cricket in and perform. I don’t know, everyone just seems to have a good time in this group. I think it’s hard to build that culture so quickly when the team changes quite a bit every three years, but it feels like we’ve got that now.”
“Obviously, winning helps, but it just feels like the team’s quite a tight unit and we’re playing for someone else other than ourselves all of the time. So it’s a nice feeling. (on the possibility of a three-peat) Yeah, I can’t see why not. Yeah, absolutely,” Josh Hazlewood concluded.
