Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) pacer Josh Hazlewood described the 13-run victory over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) as the 'most important' win for the team so far in the IPL 2022 as it kept them in the quest for the play-offs. Superb bowling efforts from Harshal Patel (3/35) and Glenn Maxwell (2/22) guided Royal Challengers Bangalore to a win over Chennai Super Kings here at MCA stadium in Pune on Wednesday.
Fighting knocks from Devon Conway (56), Moeen Ali (34) and Ruturaj Gaikwad (28) kept hopes for CSK alive but were not enough as Shahbaz Ahmed (1/27), Josh Hazlewood (1/19) and Wanindu Hasaranga (1/31) delivered with the ball for RCB.
"It is probably the most important victory of the tournament so far. We are sort of at that point where we have to win all games to make the play-off, that's what I feel, and today was the first step in doing that," Hazlewood said.
Hazlewood further added that they need to work on their bowling and batting unit.
"We have been flat the last three games, we have things to work on bowling, batting and on fielding to be honest. We put it all together and held our chances, so it's the most important victory so far."
On his T20 form, Hazlewood said: "It is mostly playing continuous T20 cricket for last three years and learning things along the way on differently conditions, against different players. Talking to lot of voices in this camp, there is lot of experience which is handy, it accelerates the learning process for me who has played just 60-70 T20 games."
The win also broke RCB's three-match losing streak and moved them to the fourth position on the points table.