Bhuvneshwar Kumar of Royal Challengers Bengaluru, left, celebrates the wicket of Tristan Stubbs of Delhi Capitals, 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 inside the Powerplay as Bhuvneshwar Kumar moved with the new ball and Josh Hazlewood used the short ball plan well.This became the team’s lowest score of the season and RCB completed a comfortable nine-wicket win.“Even I don’t know what happened. That’s why they say you have to be on your toes in cricket. We have to move on from this match,” Axar said in the post-match presentation.He also looked at key moments from recent matches, including a missed single against Gujarat Titans and a dropped catch by Karun Nair against Punjab Kings.“From today’s point of view, you can say it had an impact, but you can look back, if the ball had been caught (Nair) or if we had gotten the odd knock against GT, the momentum would have been with us. The game has no room for ifs and buts. You have to be positive, you have had a bad day and take the positives from the last 5-6 matches,” Axar added.However, the Delhi skipper did not agree that there was much swing on offer, even after the Bhuvneshwar pacer bowled debutant Sahil Parakh.
“I wasn’t surprised. They are world-class bowlers, they swing at every pitch, but if it had been an opener or a higher order they had bowled, the result might have been different.”Hazlewood, who dismissed both KL Rahul and Nitish Rana with short balls, said he was not sure what to expect from the pitch after scoring more than 500 runs in the previous match at the same venue.“He probably came here after 500-plus runs in the last game, not sure what was going to happen,” Hazlewood said, adding that he followed in Bhuvneshwar’s footsteps.“He was just following his (Bhuvneshwar’s) lead. There was a little bit of strike in the first six overs – enough to work with, and it was sliding quickly off short. Once the ball got soft, it became more balanced,” Hazlewood said.He also explained how he planned to sack Rana.“In general, you wanted the batsman to hit it on the wicket and in the V. And the short ball was beautiful too, just in terms of accuracy. When that ball was beautiful and difficult, it was difficult to hit.”
“It was good to throw four and get out of the park,” Hazlewood said.RCB captain Rajat Patidar also admitted that he was surprised by how the pitch behaved.“Even I am amazed at the way I played the wicket,” he said.“All credit goes to the bowlers, Bhuvi and Hazlewood. They hit the right areas. The swing was natural but the good thing was that we got early wickets and that kept us in the driving seat. The way Suyash Sharma bowled, from stump to stump, it was really good to see,” he concluded.