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Josh Hazlewood wins another final: The defending champions, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) face 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 consecutive IPL wins as Virat Kohli closed out the game in style, making them the third club to defend their crown.
Rajat Patidar won the toss and decided to field first, as they faced the same team from the previous game. However, Shubman Gill made one change, replacing R Sai Kishore with Arshad Khan. The stadium was packed with supporters.
Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar sent back GT openers
Electing to bat first, the Titans got off to a good start, with Shubman Gill and Sai Sudarshan returning with scores of 10 and 12 respectively in the next overs. RCB’s bowling team was in excellent form, especially Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood and Jacob Duffy. Even Jos Buttler struggled and returned after scoring 19 runs.
Washington Sundar scored a half-century in 37 balls and scored 155/8 in his 20 overs, Sundar remained unbeaten till the end on a wicket which was very slow and the ball was stopping in the first innings. Josh Hazlewood bowled brilliantly and took two wickets each along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Josh Hazlewood took the wickets of Arshad Khan and GT captain Gill.
Josh Hazlewood has not lost a white ball final yet
While chasing, it was chase master Virat Kohli who gave RCB their second trophy. He played an unbeaten inning of 75 runs. Hazlewood was celebrating with his teammates after the match. Josh Hazlewood has won all 8 major white ball finals he has played so far and has not lost a single white ball tournament final in his career so far.
He said after the win, “It’s absolutely perfect. I think there’s obviously a little more relaxation within the group this year. We had kind of regressed last year in terms of the long wait for the first win. But I think the group felt really calm and collected throughout the tournament. Someone stepped up when they needed to do so.”
Josh Hazlewood said, “I think we had 10 man of the match awards again. Such amazing depth in the team. Everyone who came in did a fantastic job and the bowling group is quite special. (On the bowling attack and Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s impact) I don’t remember a game where they gave away more than 35 runs.”
We can relax after winning another trophy with RCB- Hazlewood
“In this day and age, it’s unbelievable. He got wickets in almost every game we played and I think that took the heat off the rest of us. We could relax and, you know, we were bowling at numbers four and five in the powerplay. So it’s great. (On what the franchise and the support staff mean to the group) Yeah, I think the franchise has been put together beautifully.”
“You know, not only the players, but I think the support staff as well. Again, it’s a nice, comfortable environment to play your best, play your best cricket and perform. I don’t know, everyone has a good time in this group. I think it’s hard to build that culture so quickly when the team changes a little bit every three years, but it feels like we’ve got that now.”
“Obviously, winning helps, but it feels like the team is a pretty strong unit and we’re playing for someone other than ourselves all the time. So it’s a good feeling. (On the possibility of a three-peat) Yeah, I don’t see why not. Yeah, absolutely,” Josh Hazlewood concluded.
Also read: “I go all out”: Vaibhav Suryavanshi reflects on lessons from IPL 2026 after winning MVP, Orange Cap and Emerging Player of the Year
