Results in brief: Royal Challengers Bengaluru (77/1) beat Delhi Capitals (75) by 9 wickets at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.
RCB vs DC: HIGHLIGHTS | SCORECARD
Before a literal dust storm descended on the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi, Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar conjured up a storm of their own with the new ball to blow Delhi Capitals away. The Australian fast bowler took four wickets while Bhuvneshwar, aging like old wine, gave a masterclass in why he remains one of the premier performers in the new ball. His three-wicket haul effectively dismantled the Delhi Capitals batting order before they even got on their feet.
Exactly two days after posting an impressive 264 (and somehow losing), Delhi Capitals were reduced to a paltry 75, half of what KL Rahul himself managed on Saturday. It is the 12th lowest total in IPL history and the third lowest in the history of the Delhi franchise.
RCB needed just 6.3 overs to reach the target of 77. Virat Kohli ensured the Delhi faithful were properly entertained with two towering sixes, one of which took RCB over the finish line in one of their most emphatic wins to date. Jacob Bethell set the pace with a scintillating 10-ball 20 as Delhi’s new-ball pairing of Kyle Jamieson and Dushmanth Chameer found nothing resembling the venom displayed by their RCB counterparts. On a surface that had settled under the rollers during the mid-innings break, the chase was a formality; before the court could play any more tricks, the contest was over.
POWERPLAY RIOT AT THE BOILER
At 13 for 6, the lowest overs total in the competition’s history, the Capitals were in real danger of breaking RCB’s infamous record for the lowest total in the IPL. Disaster was narrowly averted thanks to Impact Player Abhishek Porel chipping in with 30 off 33 balls.
However, 75 all out in 16.3 overs made for grim reading. For the duration of the innings, as the Delhi batsmen staged a revolving door procession in and out of the pavilion, the packed Kotla crowd found solace in chanting the name of their local hero, ‘Kohli, Kohli.’ It was a way to stay insulated from the sporting carnage that was taking place in the middle.
How does a pitch change so drastically in 48 hours? It wasn’t much of a mystery. A touch of spice was on offer, although the primary catalyst was a drier surface that offered real help to the disciplined. The sheer class of Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar proved an insurmountable obstacle for a Delhi side seemingly suffering from a hangover after their 264 runs. They arrived expecting another run and were met with a hurricane instead.
While the bowling was terrific, the Capitals shot selection was poor; several batsmen seemed trapped in the mindset of “going hard” to overcompensate for what happened on Saturday – the Punjab Kings’ chase of 265 in just 18.5 overs.
HOW HAS THE COURSE CHANGED?
The Delhi batters were caught completely cold by the marvelous swing extracted by the opening duo. Even Bhuvneshwar, now donning the Purple Cap with 14 wickets, admitted he was taken aback by the conditions.
“I was definitely surprised, especially considering how the wicket played in the last match with 250 plus in both innings. To see the ball swing away like that was unexpected and we knew we had to make the most of it by attacking the stumps and looking for wickets,” Bhuvneshwar said during the mid-innings break.
BHUVI-HAZLEWOOD MASTERCLASS
The very first ball of the evening set the tone. Faced with the first delivery of his IPL career, 18-year-old Maharashtra prospect Sahil Parikh was bowled by Pathum Nissanko and bowled by a sensational swashbuckling yorker. It was the kind of delivery that would suit a seasoned veteran, let alone a rookie facing a master craftsman.
The venom of that delivery sent chills through the Delhi dressing room.
In the following course, Hazlewood smelled blood. He fielded a sharp bouncer to remove the out-of-form KL Rahul, who was rushed by the extra bounce and could only top-edge the pull. Sameer Rizvi, looking for form since his heroics earlier in the season, was then lured to a free drive off his first ball. Hazlewood, operating a relentless cross-seamer across the length, stretched the edge to find the keeper’s waiting gloves.
Hazlewood found himself on a hat-trick but Tristan Stubbs survived an initial scare to keep the Australian out of the record books for now. However, Stubbs’ reprieve was short-lived. Bhuvneshwar, keen to take advantage of the movement, teased the South African with a wonderful outswinger. Stubbs, who played with his hands too far away from his body, paid the ultimate price when the edge flew all the way to the keeper.
Captain Axar Patel arrived at number six with the local supporters praying for the rescue act. He looked utterly bewildered against Bhuvneshwar, who bowled the ball both ways. After one nervous departure, Axar was beaten by an inswinger that grazed the wood, although the bails miraculously stayed put. His luck ran out on the very next ball; the van ripper belatedly swung, took the edge and flew off the surface at too much speed for the captain to handle.
At the end of the period, Delhi trailed 8 to 5. The misery continued. Hazlewood then dismissed Nitish Rana with a searing bouncer that rose steeply after the pitch. Rana, who tried to pop off the line, took his eyes off the ball and only managed a thick outside edge.
The scoreboard read a disastrous 9-6 at the end of the fourth over.
This was the cue for Delhi to deploy their Impact Player in a desperate bid to steady the ship. David Miller and Abhishek Porel did their best to survive Bhuvi and Hazlewood’s six-run onslaught. In the eighth, they even weathered a brief dust storm during which play was stopped for five minutes. Visibility dropped, but the game had already faded into obscurity for the Capitals.
Due to the sweltering heat and humidity, Rajat Patidar opted not to bowl his pace aces for the fourth time in a row, allowing Miller and Porel to put on a 35-run partnership. The resistance ended when Miller dropped his wicket to Rasikh Dar and, with a clumsy sweep across the board, fired a shot in the ninth.
Porel remained defiant at one end, but the introduction of spin on a dry surface proved decisive. Krunal Pandya trapped Kyle Jamieson plumb in front before Suyash Sharma, operating around the wicket, rounded Kuldeep Yadav. Suyash finished with remarkable figures of 1 for 7 from his four overs, including 20 dot balls.
Hazlewood struck the final blow poetically. The Australian came back to end Porel’s solitary crusade with a stinging yorker. Delhi’s innings started with a yorker; it devolved into sheer agony and ended conveniently with the wood shattering again.
With three straight defeats, Delhi Capitals have slipped to seventh in the table. Meanwhile, RCB sit safely at the second spot with 12 points from eight matches, just a single point behind the table-topping Punjab Kings.
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Issued by:
Kingshuk Kusari
Published on:
27 Apr 2026 10:24 IST
