Josh Hazlewood’s dominance to Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s ever-reliable spells: RCB’s top five individual bowling performances

As the Royal Challengers Bengaluru lifted their second IPL title, apart from their batters putting up a scintillating show, their bowlers conjured a conquest of the highest order. From calling shots in the Powerplay to being unplayable in the death where batters would occasionally run away with the game, the bowling performances stood out in their own magnificent capacity. Here is a glance at the top five individual performances in an innings from the RCB bowlers in IPL 2026.

·      Josh Hazlewood – 4/12 vs Delhi Capitals

In a performance that left the entire world in awe of the RCB bowling unit was being spearheaded by the Aussie pace ace. Coming on the back off a game where Delhi posted a staggering 260-plus total, everyone expected a cracker of a game dominated by the batters. However, the RCB duo of Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar completely shifted the dynamics. For Hazlewood the haul started with the crucial scalp of KL Rahul. He doubled his tally on the next ball itself, sending Sameer Rizvi back to the pavilion. Nitish Rana couldn’t get going either as Hazlewood’s stringent discipline left the southpaw stuttering. Hoff was the one to clean proceedings up removing the best Delhi batter on the evening, Abhishek Porel. Courtesy of his bowling dominance, Delhi were wrapped up for a paltry 75.

·      Bhuvneshwar Kumar – 4/23 vs Mumbai Indians

RCB’s leading wicket-taker, Bhuvneshwar Kumar created a lot of ripples in the powerplay with the new ball in his hands. However, against Mumbai Indians, he was from a different universe of threat. With the new ball in his hands, he left Mumbai wobbling. Kumar got rid of Ryan Rickleton early on and then followed it up with the prized scalps of Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma. Kumar being the iconic all-rounder at times, he didn’t just stop at being a hero with the ball but he even won the game for RCB, smashing an incredible six to close the game in an absolutely pressure-cooker situation.

·      Rasikh Salam Dar – 4/24 vs Lucknow Super Giants

Amidst the heavy guns of RCB, Rasikh Salam Dar was that one youngster who had a significant impact on the fray. Rasikh registered his best IPL figures against Lucknow Super Giants where he ran through the LSG middle-order without any mercy at all. However, the Rasikh rampage started with the wicket of Aiden Markram. He then came back to remove the likes of Ayush Badoni, Mukul Choudhary and Avesh Khan as LSG were bundled out for 146.

·      Jacob Duffy – 3/22 vs Sunrisers Hyderabad

The Kiwi Express made a debut to remember. Ready to deliver in the Southern Derby, Duffy took over the new ball and ran through one of the most bedecked batting orders of the fray. Duffy’s first victim of the day was the deadly Abhishek Sharma and the Kiwi pace ace had already announced his arrival. However, that was just the beginning of the destruction that he was about to wreak. The next big fish in his trap was none other than the deadly Travis Head. Well, when you have two wickets inside the powerplay, the captain faces a conundrum of whether to hand you another over or not. Duffy, however, had shown enough brilliance in the first two overs to get a third in the powerplay as well. And Duffy knew exactly how to repay the faith of the skipper. He left Nitish Kumar Reddy with a very sour taste in his mouth, removing him just for a solitary run. By the time he was done with his spell, Duffy had figures of 3/22 from his allotment of four overs.

·      Bhuvneshwar Kumar – 3/5 vs Delhi Capitals

We have talked about this game and the man before and we will talk about the game and the man again. Bhuvi was exceptional throughout the season as he missed out on the Purple Cap by a solitary wicket. One of his best performances came against the Delhi Capitals as he combined with Josh Hazlewood perfectly to leave the Capitals in a capital challenge. Kumar got the crucial wickets of Sahil Parakh, Tristan Stubbs and Axar Patel to impose RCB’s towering dominance over the Capitals.