Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar, left, celebrates a goal by Delhi Capitals’ Tristan Stubbs, right, during the IPL match between DC and RCB in Delhi, Monday, April 27, 2026. (AP) Delhi Capitals captain Axar Patel had few answers after his team suffered two heavy defeats in less than 48 hours in IPL 2026.After failing to defend 264 against Punjab Kings on Saturday, Delhi were bowled out for just 75 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Monday.Delhi were reduced to 9 for 6 in the over as Bhuvneshwar Kumar got moving with the new ball and Josh Hazlewood made good use of the short ball plan.
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IPL 2026: LSG’s Justin Langer explains where they lost vs KKRIt became the team’s lowest score of the season and RCB completed a comfortable nine-wicket haul.“Even I don’t know what happened. That’s why they say in cricket you have to be alert. We have to move on from this match,” Axar said at the post-match presentation.He also looked back at key moments from recent matches, including a missed single against Gujarat Titans and Karun Nair’s dropped catches against Punjab Kings.“From today’s perspective, you can say it had an effect, but you can look back if they (Nair) had caught or if we had caught a single against GT, then the momentum would have been with us. The game is such that there is no room for ifs and buts. You have to be positive, you had a bad day and take positives from the last 5-6 games,” Axar added.However, the Delhi skipper did not agree that there was too much swing on offer, even after Bhuvneshwar’s inswinger bowled debutant Sahil Parakh.“It didn’t surprise me, they are world-class bowlers, they rocked it on every pitch, but if our openers or the top order had outplayed them, the result could have been different.”Hazlewood, who removed KL Rahul and Nitish Rana with short balls, said he was not sure what to expect from the pitch after more than 500 runs were scored at the same venue in the previous match.“I probably came in here after 500-plus runs in the last game, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen,” Hazlewood said, adding that he followed Bhuvneshwar’s lead.“Just followed his (Bhuvneshwar’s) lead. There was a bit in the first six overs – enough to work with it and it was sliding quickly from short length. Once the ball was soft, he was more composed,” Hazlewood said.He also explained how he planned Rana’s recall.“Generally you wanted the bat to hit it in the wicket and in the V. The short ball was nice too, just about the accuracy. When that ball was nice and hard, it was hard to hit. It would have been nice to bowl four and get off the pitch,” Hazlewood said.RCB captain Rajat Patidar also admitted that he was surprised by how the pitch behaved.“I’m even surprised how the wicket played,” he said.“All credit to the bowlers, Bhuv and Hazlewood. They hit the right areas. The swing was normal but the good thing was that we got early wickets and that kept us in the driver’s seat. The way Suyash Sharma bowled, stump to stump, it was really good to see,” he concluded.
