Jacob Duffy was born in a town of 530 people in New Zealand’s deep south. On Saturday, he opened the bowling for IPL defending champions RCB at a packed Chinnaswamy Stadium, replacing Josh Hazlewood in the lineup. He didn’t just fill in, instead he made the role his own in the RCB vs SRH opener.
Duffy’s figures in the RCB vs SRH opener read 4-0-22-3, all three wickets coming in the powerplay. Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Reddy. Three of SRH’s most dangerous batters, dismissed before the sixth over. SRH were 29 for 3 and never recovered the momentum.
Jacob Duffy Spell That Finished SRH
Duffy started with controlled away swing to Abhishek, conceding just seven in his first over. When he overpitched and offered width, Abhishek punished him over point for six. But Duffy adjusted immediately.
Next over, he found that heavy length, just outside off, rib-high. The kind of delivery RCB fans have come to associate with Hazlewood. Abhishek tried to pull, got a top edge, and Jitesh Sharma completed the catch behind the stumps. The Chinnaswamy erupted.
Head followed soon after. Duffy went full once and Head crashed him over mid-off for four. Next ball, Duffy ran in harder, hit the deck harder. Another pull, not enough power. Salt took a sharp catch at square leg. When Reddy fell to yet another miscued pull off a hard length, the pattern was unmistakable.
“I am just keeping the big fellow’s [Josh Hazlewood] seat warm,” Duffy said at the post-match presentation. “I just wanted to bowl the hard lengths, keep the ball there.”
He wasn’t being modest. He was describing the RCB template.
The RCB powerplay philosophy
RCB’s transformation under Andy Flower has been built on one clear principle: win the powerplay with the ball. For years, the franchise identity revolved around superstar batting. Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers. But the trophy never came.
Flower shifted the focus to powerplay bowling. Bhuvneshwar Kumar brought swing and accuracy. Hazlewood brought bounce and relentless hard lengths. Krunal Pandya offered a spin option in the first six overs. The results in IPL 2025 were emphatic:
| Metric | RCB (IPL 2025) | Tournament rank |
|---|---|---|
| Powerplay wickets | 27 | 1st |
| Powerplay economy | 8.73 | 1st |
| Powerplay dot balls | 251 | 2nd |
RCB took at least one powerplay wicket in 14 of 15 games last season. They took two or more in nine. Three-plus wickets in five games since 2025 including in the RCB vs SRH match on Saturday in IPL 2026.
The formula is straightforward. Tall, hit-the-deck pacers at one end. Bhuvi with swing and impeccable lengths at the other. Bowl Test match lengths, use any extra bounce the surface offers, attack top-order batters before they settle.
ALSO READ: Who is Abhinandan Singh, the new debutant for RCB in their IPL 2026 opener vs SRH
Why Jacob Duffy Is The Perfect Fit At RCB
With Hazlewood recovering from injury, RCB needed someone who could replicate the same lengths and the same intent. Duffy, picked as a backup at the auction, fits the profile precisely. Duffy was one of the best buys of the IPL 2026 auction.
He is not a like-for-like replacement in reputation, but he is in method. At 6’3″, he hits the deck hard and extracts awkward bounce. He already had Head’s number coming into this game, dismissing him three times in four T20 innings for just 22 runs off 19 balls.
Duffy’s 2025 across formats tells you this is no fluke. He is currently the world’s second-ranked T20I bowler, having taken 57 T20 wickets last year at an economy of 7.89 with an elite 53.1% dot-ball rate. Two days before this IPL debut, he won the Sir Richard Hadlee Medal at the NZC awards.
“We talked about the lengths and what works here,” Duffy said. “Just build on what Josh did.”
That one line captures everything about the new RCB. It is no longer about individual brilliance. It is about a system that holds regardless of who slots in. Hazlewood or Duffy, the lengths stay the same, the plans stay the same, and the powerplay stays theirs.
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