Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s pace attack made a ruthless start to their IPL 2026 encounter with Delhi Capitals on Monday, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood dismantling the Delhi batting unit. By the end of the powerplay, Delhi were left struggling at 13 for 6, a score that also became the poorest powerplay tally in a complete IPL match.
The early collapse set the tone as pressure turned into panic, and both Bengaluru quicks finished their spells with three wickets apiece. Bhuvneshwar got the first breakthrough immediately, yorking Parakh in the opening over. The very next over, Hazlewood struck again by removing KL Rahul, who had carried his form into this game after scoring an unbeaten 152 in Delhi’s prior match against Punjab Kings. Hazlewood delivered a hard-length ball clocked at 141.4 kph aimed at the stumps; Rahul tried to force the issue but only managed a top edge, with Jitesh Sharma taking the catch behind the stumps. Rahul departed for 1.
Hazlewood’s momentum continued on the next delivery. This time he sent in a fuller ball outside off, with late movement away from the batter. Sameer Rizvi went for the drive, but the edge went through to the keeper area and Rizvi was dismissed for a golden duck. Hazlewood was then in position for a hat-trick, but Tristan Stubbs denied that possibility by driving through the leg side.
Delhi’s miseries did not end there. With just 13 balls gone in the innings, they had already lost four wickets, and Stubbs soon followed, edging one to the slips for 5 off 3 balls. Three balls later, Bhuvneshwar struck again, this time dismissing Delhi captain Axar Patel. He produced late movement off the outside edge, leaving Delhi in trouble at 7 for 5 after 2.4 overs.
Hazlewood then added another blow by removing Nitish Rana. Bowling from around the stumps, he cramped the left-hander with a short ball that came into the body. Rana attempted to evade, but his bat stayed in the air and the ball popped up, where Devdutt Padikkal was stationed at wide slip to complete the catch. Rana’s dismissal sent Delhi to 8 for 6 in the fourth over.
With Delhi reduced to 13 for 6 after six overs, they not only suffered a severe early setback but also eclipsed the previous benchmark for the lowest powerplay total in a full IPL match. The earlier record had stood at 14 for 2, set by Rajasthan Royals against RCB in Cape Town in 2009.
Lowest Powerplay (1–6 overs) totals in the IPL: 13/6 – DC vs RCB, Delhi, 2026*; 14/2 – RR vs RCB, Cape Town, 2009; 14/3 – SRH vs RR, Pune, 2022; 15/2 – CSK vs KKR, Kolkata, 2011; 16/1 – CSK vs DD, Raipur, 2015; 16/1 – CSK vs RCB, Chennai, 2019.
