Delhi Capitals co-owner Parth Jindal voiced disappointment after his side suffered a lopsided defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru in New Delhi on Monday. The match swung heavily in RCB’s favour as Delhi were dismissed for 75, before the visitors chased down the target with ease to win by nine wickets.
Key takeaways
- RCB’s Josh Hazlewood struck with a four-wicket haul while Bhuvneshwar Kumar added three wickets to restrict Delhi.
- Delhi collapsed to a total of 75, marking their lowest score of the season.
- Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal guided the chase, helping RCB secure victory by nine wickets.
- It was Delhi’s second consecutive loss after they were defeated again following Punjab Kings’ successful chase of 265 in the previous game.
- Axar Patel said the team struggled to pinpoint what went wrong and stressed the need to move on and stay positive.
Delhi’s collapse and RCB’s controlled chase
In the first innings, Delhi Capitals never settled. Bhuvneshwar Kumar found movement off the pitch, while Hazlewood made effective use of short balls, leaving the home side in trouble early.
Delhi were reduced to 9 for 6 during the powerplay, before folding to 75 all out. The collapse underlined how quickly the contest shifted, with RCB completing the chase comfortably once the target became reachable.
Jindal’s message and Axar Patel’s reflections
After the defeat, Parth Jindal posted on X urging the group to remain together and continue fighting. He acknowledged how difficult the result was to accept, but called for persistence and belief despite the setback.
Delhi captain Axar Patel, meanwhile, struggled to fully explain the turnaround in fortunes. Speaking at the post-match presentation, he said he himself did not know what had happened, adding that players must stay alert in T20 cricket and that the squad must quickly move on from the game.
Momentum, missed chances, and the swing debate
Axar also pointed to smaller moments from earlier matches that he felt may have disrupted Delhi’s momentum. He referenced the single that David Miller refused in the narrow one-run loss to Gujarat Titans, as well as dropped opportunities involving Karun Nair during the defeat to Punjab Kings.
He suggested that outcomes can hinge on such fine margins—if catches had been taken or if the run against GT had been taken, the momentum could have looked different. In his view, cricket doesn’t allow for “what ifs”, so the team must focus on positives drawn from recent performances rather than dwell on the negatives of one particular day.
Axar also did not agree that there was anything unusual about the swing on offer, even with Bhuvneshwar’s inswinger sent down to debutant Sahil Parakh early. He said world-class bowlers swing the ball at every venue, implying Delhi’s top order still needed to play it through better to change the direction of the match.
