IPL 2026: Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar star as RCB complete nine
Sizzling spells from Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar helped defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru storm to a nine-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals in a one-sided Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 clash at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Monday.
The right-arm pace duo ripped through DC’s batting order in a devastating new-ball spell as the hosts were bundled out for just 75, before Devdutt Padikkal and Virat Kohli struck unbeaten 34 and 23 respectively to wrap up the chase with 81 balls to spare, sealing an emphatic and swift victory.
Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar combined to take six wickets inside the first four overs, producing prodigious movement and bounce after hitting the deck — conditions more reminiscent of a Test match than an IPL game — and ensuring DC were bowled out for the lowest total of the season.
Outside edges flew, batters were beaten repeatedly, and DC had no answers to Hazlewood (4-12) and Bhuvneshwar (3-5). Impact Player Abishek Porel’s 30 off 33 was the lone bright spot in an otherwise dismal batting effort, as no other DC batter crossed 20 and wickets fell like ninepins.
As per CricViz, DC became just the second team in IPL history to lose six wickets inside the Power-play in a non-rain-curtailed game. The only previous occurrence came in IPL 2011, when Kochi Tuskers Kerala slumped to 29/6 against Deccan Chargers. Coincidentally, both happened on April 27.
Not many expected mayhem to come DC’s way when Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s probing away-swinger drew an edge off debutant Sahil Parakh and trickled harmlessly to short third man. But off the very next ball, Bhuvneshwar struck with lethal precision — a sharp, late inswinging yorker from over the wicket sneaked past Parakh’s blade and castled him for a two-ball duck.
Hazlewood raised the tempo of the carnage with two huge blows in as many deliveries. A brutal short ball cramped KL Rahul for room on the pull, with the top edge settling into Jitesh Sharma’s safe gloves, while debutant Sameer Rizvi was lured into chasing one outside off-stump and nicked behind.
Tristan Stubbs momentarily lifted DC’s spirits by clipping Hazlewood’s hat-trick ball for four, but the reprieve was fleeting as Bhuvneshwar, relentless and unerring, found Stubbs’ outside edge with another late-swinging delivery, safely pouched at first slip. He then induced Axar Patel’s outside edge, with Jitesh taking another catch.
Hazlewood deepened DC’s misery with a sharp short ball that tangled Nitish Rana, whose glove-edge was caught at gully, leaving DC in tatters at 9/6 inside four overs.
