BENGALURU, India: Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood starred with 4-33 in Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s 11 run IPL win at home against Rajasthan Royals, who won the toss and chose to field first Thursday.
Chasing 206 to win after Bengaluru’s 205-5, Rajasthan looked comfortable before Dhruv Jurel was dismissed by Hazlewood in the 19th over of the chase.
Jurel scored a 34-ball 47 and was removed with 17 needed off 9 balls for the win.
Hazlewood removed England’s Jofra Archer on the next ball, leaving Royals reeling with 17 needed off the final over.
Earlier, Indian batting superstar Virat Kohli hit a 42-ball 70 to steer Bengaluru to a par score on a batting friendly Bengaluru wicket.
Openers Kohli and Phil Salt raced to 59-0 in the powerplay before Salt was removed on 26 in the seventh over with the team on 61-1.
Kohli then built an important 95 run partnership with Devdutt Padikkal before finally falling in the 16th over to Archer.
Padikkal, who was batting very well, fell soon after a 27-ball 50, with Bengaluru on 161-3.
Quick wickets toward the end took away the momentum before key cameos by Tim David (23) and Jitesh Sharma, who remained unbeaten on 20.
Archer was Rajasthan’s standout bowler and finished with 33-1. Sandeep Sharma took 2-45 and Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga finished with 1-30.
Rajasthan’s young top-order batters started really well and stayed ahead of the required run rate for the first half of the chase.
Indian Test opener Yashasvi Jaiswal hit 19-ball 49 before he was removed by Hazlewood.
His opening partner, Vaibhav Suryavanshi fell early on 16 to India veteran Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who finished with 1-50 in his four-over spell.
Spinner Krunal Pandya bowled an important spell and removed both Nitish Rana (28) and Rajasthan skipper Riyan Parag (22) who looked dangerous after the fall of initial wickets.
Rajasthan were cruising before Rana’s wicket in the 14th over but its batters failed to convert starts into a score to help their team cross the finish line.
“I think we did really well with the ball... We held them back really well,” Parag said after the game.
“With the batting, I thought at the halfway mark we were in the driving seat,” he added.
But “we have ourselves to blame... (The team was) in the driving seat and we let it slip.”
Player-of-the-match Hazlewood said that he “was just sticking to my strengths.”
“I knew hard lengths were hard to hit so I was mixing that up with yorkers, change of pace,” he added.

BERLIN: Borussia Dortmund will likely be without the injured Pascal Gross and Maximilian Beier when they travel to Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga on Saturday, coach Niko Kovac said on Thursday.
Dortmund, in seventh place with four games left to play, are desperate for a top-four finish to secure a Champions League spot for next season.
They have won three of their last four league matches and drew against Bayern Munich, as they battle to make up for lost ground earlier in the season.
“Gross has knee ligament problems,” Kovac told a press conference in Dortmund. “I still have some hope but honestly I don’t think he will make it.
“Maxi is a similar case. He did not train. He can walk but running is painful but I also have not yet given up. But obviously we will not take any risks.”
Both players were injured in last week’s 3-2 win over Borussia Moenchengladbach but are not expected to be out too long.
Dortmund are on 45 points in seventh place. Eintracht Frankfurt, third with 52, host fourth-placed RB Leipzig (49) on Saturday. Freiburg (48) are fifth and visit Wolfsburg, while Mainz 05, who travel to Bayern Munich, are sixth with 47.
“The finish is approaching. The feeling I get is during this crunch time everyone player wants to be there, to go beyond any pain,” Kovac said.
“I am happy that the lads recognize the situation. Everyone can read the standings. Everyone knows what is at stake and everyone has to increase their focus,” he added.
“It does not matter thinking what can happen on May 17 (season finale). We have to keep doing our homework and focus only on the next game. We cannot look at the teams in front of us. We just have to keep winning to put pressure on them.”