The Delhi Capitals suffered a demoralising nine-wicket defeat to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Monday. The hosts were undone by an outstanding new ball spell from Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood, who ripped the heart out of the DC batting line-up to reduce them to 8/6, which eventually culminated in them being bowled out for 75 in 16.3 overs.
DC recorded the lowest ever powerplay score in IPL history, at 13/6, after their top and middle-order was ripped apart by the RCB new ball pair.
Captain Axar Patel admitted that he did not understand what had happened to his side, admitting that they had to move on quickly from this result.
“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. From today’s point of view, you can say it did affect, but you can look back, if the catches were taken or had we taken the single against GT, then momentum would have been with us,” Axar said at the post-match presentation.
The all-rounder admitted that he wasn’t surprised by the swing which Bhuvneshwar and Hazlewood got with the new ball, and felt that had the top-order shown more application, the result may have been different.
“The game is such that there is no room for ifs and buts. You have to be positive, you had a bad day, and take the positives from the last 5-6 games. I wasn’t surprised, they are world class bowlers, they swing it every ground, but if our openers or top order had played them out, then the result might have been different,” he added.
DC, who now have three wins in eight matches, next take on Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on May 1.
