Josh Hazlewood gets INR 4.75 crore pay rise by RCB at IPL 2025 auction

Australian medium pacer Josh Hazlewood got a hike of INR 4.75 crore by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Sunday, November 24. The Bengaluru-based franchise re-purchased him for INR 12.5 crore following a bidding war with Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Mumbai Indians (MI).

RCB had previously bought Hazlewood for INR 7.75 crore. He has also played with Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings in the T20 league.

Notably, Hazlewood went unsold at IPL 2024 auctions as he was unavailable for the first five weeks due to the birth of his first child. The speedster played just three games in the 2023 season due to an Achilles heel problem.

The 33-year-old, however, scalped 20 wickets in 12 games during the 2022 edition of the tournament. Overall, he has 35 scalps in 27 matches at an economy rate of 8.05. In T20s, he has 136 wickets in 107 games.

Hazlewood had scalped 16 wickets in 11 games during the 2023 ODI World Cup.

Apart from Josh Hazlewood, the Bengaluru-based franchise also roped in Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, and Liam Livingstone for INR 11.5 crore, INR 11 crore and INR 8.75 crore, respectively. The franchise didn’t use RTM to get back Mohammed Siraj, who was sold to Gujarat Titans (GT) for INR 12.25 crore.

RCB retained Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, and Yash Dayal before the IPL 2025 auctions. They are looking for a strong squad in their search for a maiden IPL trophy. They were knocked out of the eliminators after making it to the playoffs during the last season.

“Nice build up for him” – When Australian selector defended Josh Hazlewood’s participation in IPL despite injury

Australian selector George Bailey had defended Josh Hazlewood’s participation in IPL 2023 despite injury ahead of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final. Bailey said (via sportingnews.com):

"He's reasonably experienced, and he's very professional so he knows exactly what and where he'll need to be to be at his best for the Ashes. We're in constant communication, as we are with all of the players around that, so he'll be building and in some ways that smaller workload – through four-over bursts in the IPL – might be a nice build for him."

The reaction came after erstwhile Aussie skipper Michael Clarke asked Cricket Australia to intervene and withdraw Hazlewood from IPL mid-season:

“I don’t know why he’s over (there in India) playing IPL. I don’t know why he’s not over here in Australia preparing to play Test match cricket. They can do it now. They can stop you from going. But it’s India. Are you kidding? No one is saying no to India."

Josh Hazlewood eventually missed the 2023 WTC final due to an injury (side strain) he picked up during his IPL stint in India.