In the ongoing Indian Premier League season, Josh Hazlewood is to Royal Challengers Bengaluru what Jasprit Bumrah has been to Mumbai Indians and India.

Hazlewood has become someone RCB can’t do without. He has a measly economy of 7.22 and 9.04 with seven and six wickets in the PowerPlay and death (last four) overs, respectively.

Remarkably, the Aussie pacer has conceded only 26.86 per cent of his team’s PowerPlay runs, despite bowling at least two overs in that phase per match.

So, with his return, RCB has a special reason to feel heartened as it takes on Lucknow Super Giants at the Ekana stadium here on Tuesday. With the LSG batters coming off a rampage against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad, RCB will look up to Hazlewood for early wickets. Until the season was suspended, Hazlewood had picked up six wickets in his opening overs, the most for any bowler.

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As Phil Salt acknowledged after his team’s 42-run loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad here on Friday, RCB looked set to chase down the 232-run target even after 15 overs.

“I think we did a lot of good things, chasing it down. The margins were fine most of the time. But the margins for failure were very fine tonight,” he said.

RCB has to get the margins right on Tuesday to secure a top-two finish in the league table and to get to the playoffs with a winning momentum.