Similarly, cricket guru and former India player Mohammad Kaif expressed his thoughts on RCB’s loss. In a daring statement, he claimed that the team had lost out on the services of Josh Hazlewood, the great Australian pacer. It’s important to note that RCB ended up giving up more than 200 runs in both of the previous games, which Hazlewood missed. Lungi Ngidi, who replaced him, was expensive against SRH even though he bowled well against the Chennai Super Kings, taking three wickets.
During the current Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) team has been playing away from home in explosive form. However, they lost to the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Friday, ending their winning streak. Notably, on May 23, RCB and SRH faced off in Lucknow, where SRH was successful in playing the part of party spoiler. Given that the Hyderabad-based team was able to score an incredible 231 runs, Bengaluru’s bowling squad was definitely missing their star bowler.
“Yash Dayal and Bhuvneshwar Kumar looked fantastic when bowling with Hazlewood, but it looks different without him. Right now, they are missing him. It will be challenging for RCB to prevail in the tournament’s final stages if Hazlewood is unable to recover in time. It’s like having your right hand severed if you don’t have Hazlewood,” he said.
Visit this link to view Mohammad Kaif’s most recent video, which explains the Hazlewood situation:
Can RCB reach top 2 without Hazlewood? pic.twitter.com/hE6GdbgIJd
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) May 23, 2025
For WTC final commitments, Ngidi is probably going to leave the IPL early.
Lungi Ngidi is expected to depart the IPL 2025 and head to England shortly, where South Africa will play Australia in the World Test Championship (WTC 2025) final at Lord’s, which is set to start on June 11. This will likely cause RCB to take a further hit.
Bengaluru is waiting for Hazlewood to recover in time, but they still have a chance to place in the top two of the IPL points table. Notably, the Australian fast is recuperating in Brisbane from a shoulder ailment and intends to join the RCB team shortly before the playoffs begin.
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