Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar snared three wickets each in the DC vs RCB IPL 2026 powerplay.
The defending champions, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, have thrashed the Delhi Capitals at their home in the DC vs RCB IPL 2026 clash to claim a stunning nine-wicket victory with more than 13 overs remaining. Following the match, RCB captain Rajat Patidar shared why he did not continue with their destructive pace pair of Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar after the powerplay.
“All credit to the bowlers, the way they bowled, specially in the powerplay. Hazlewood and Bhuvi, I think the way they’ve hit those areas and got that bit of swing earlier, it was tremendous to see. The good thing was we got early wickets and it kept us in the driving seat,” acknowledged Patidar after the DC vs RCB match.
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After electing to field first, the duo ripped apart the DC line-up in just six overs of the game. Bhuvneshwar took just two balls to provide the breakthrough as he sent back debutant Sahil Parakh for a duck. This was followed by mayhem from Hazlewood as the Australian pacer struck in his first two deliveries of the night, dismissing previous fixture’s centurion KL Rahul and Sameer Rizvi.
The pair snared three more wickets combined in the following two to reduce the side to just 9/6 after four overs. After two more overs, the scoreboard read 13/6, which is the lowest powerplay score in IPL history. But even after an electrifying display in the first six overs, Patidar introduced Rasikh Salam and Romario Shepherd into the attack. After the match, the skipper noted that it was a pre-planned move to bowl three overs each of Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar in the powerplay and save their remaining two for the death overs.
“We had planned earlier that if we get early wickets, then we will bowl three-three overs of each, and will then see how the wicket is behaving,” he stated in the post-match presentation.
However, a disastrous batting show from DC restricted the duo from completing their full quota tonight. Though Hazlewood was back into the attack during the 17th over, his third delivery ended the impact player Abhishek Porel’s gritty fight (30 off 33) as the Capitals were all out for just 75 runs. The 35-year-old was adjudged the Player of the Match for his spectacular four-wicket haul.
On the other hand, Bhuvneshwar also registered an excellent figure of 3-0-5-3 in the DC vs RCB match. Currently, he is one of the leading wicket-takers of the IPL 2026 with 14 scalps in eight appearances.
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