Monday’s IPL powerplay turned into a scene of near-total destruction as Royal Challengers Bengaluru produced a savage burst with the new ball to leave Delhi Capitals struggling for recovery. The damage was done early and relentlessly: Josh Hazlewood struck with figures of 4/12 and Bhuvneshwar Kumar backed him with 3/5, with both bowlers carving out two separate three-over spells that crushed Delhi’s momentum and effectively decided the contest before it could properly begin. Delhi Capitals’ powerplay tally of 13/6 stands as the lowest such score in IPL history, underscoring just how brutal the opening phase was. In the end, Delhi managed only 75 runs in 16.3 overs, and while they avoided the absolute bottom by a whisker, they still escaped the match only after taking the ignominy of a lowest-ever IPL total off the table. RCB themselves had earlier set a grim marker when they restricted Kolkata Knight Riders to 49 in 2017, but this time Delhi went even further into the red.
The early blowback ensured that only a handful of batters reached double figures. Abhishek Porel made 30, David Miller contributed 19, and Kyle Jamieson finished with 12, while the rest of the batting line-up found no rhythm against a bowling attack that combined accuracy with movement from the seam and swing. The collapse began with Bhuvneshwar’s strike of Sahil Parakh, a debutant who was made to pay from the very first phase of the innings. The mayhem started as early as the second ball: Bhuvneshwar delivered an in-dipping yorker that uprooted Parakh’s middle stump, setting the tone for what followed—an avalanche rather than a contest.
That early breakthrough soon turned into a longer collapse when Hazlewood took over the pressure. The Australian fast bowler sent shockwaves through the stands by dismissing KL Rahul for 1 and then Sameer Rizvi for 0, removing both on consecutive deliveries. The way Hazlewood’s spell unfolded had the feel of a sequence meant for maximum impact—Rahul’s dismissal came after he misjudged a pull as the ball grew big on him, while Rizvi edged after playing away from his body without any clear footwork. It was swing and seam in full control from Bhuvneshwar as well, and there was simply no period where Delhi could reset and build.
Just when any hope of a recovery might have flickered, Bhuvneshwar returned to add to the list of victims, dismissing Tristan Stubbs for 5. Stubbs attempted to jab at a length delivery and the outside edge was taken cleanly by Devdutt Padikkal at slip. The Capitals’ innings then reached its most surreal moment of the night as their skipper Axar Patel fell for 0, nicking an outswinger from Bhuvneshwar behind to Jitesh. In that instant, the home crowd was left stunned, with the scoreboard reflecting the scale of the collapse: Delhi were reduced to 8 for 5 in just three overs, and then quickly to 9 for 6. The speed of the batting implosion made it feel less like a sporting contest and more like scripted drama.
The powerplay itself offered almost nothing to the Capitals—there was only a single boundary, struck by Stubbs—while Bengaluru’s pacers continued to dismantle the innings with clinical control. When the six-over phase ended, the hosts were still reeling at 13 for six, with Nitish Rana joining the early list of dismissals as Hazlewood’s spell continued to dominate. The final touch arrived in the simplest possible way: Hazlewood closed out the Capitals innings by castling Abhishek Porel, completing a powerplay assault that Delhi never truly managed to escape.
