New Delhi: The eccentricity of IPL never ceases to amaze the viewers. A venue that witnessed a massacre of wild-swinging bats two days ago, with a comfortable chase of 265, saw the swinging new white ball wreak havoc on the batting line-up on Monday evening. In four overs, Royal Challengers Bangalore’s seamers Bhuvneshwar Kumar And Josh Hazlewood turned Delhi Capitals into a crime scene where six batsmen sat on their seats with wounded confidence and the scoreboard read 8/6. Rub your eyes and read again.The Capitals were going at about a run-a-wicket rate before the Powerplay ended at 13/6. Call it the worst batting performance in the Powerplay or the best spell of fast bowling in the Powerplay, those six overs served as a stark reminder of how cricket can be the ultimate leveller. Chasing down the target of 76 runs, RCB lost one wicket in just 6.3 overs, commenting on the superior skills of Bhuvneshwar and Hazlewood and the lesser batting abilities of the Capitals batsmen. The partisan Delhi crowd came to watch Virat Kohli bat and went home chanting his name as he finished the game, slapping T Natarajan forcefully over the midwicket boundary. But the night will be remembered for Bhuvneshwar and Hazlewood who describe it with figures of 3/5 and 4/12. Here two experienced and proud international bowlers stood at the top of their run-up like bloodhounds on the same field who had reduced the bowlers to mere bowling machines on Saturday afternoon. Every time they ran in, it felt like the battle was personal. Each out was celebrated as if it were the answer to all the miserable days bowlers endure in the IPL thanks to the soft surfaces, big bats, short boundaries and impact player rule. The pitch did not produce the pace and bounce of the WACA in Perth, nor did the conditions offer the exaggerated movement of an early summer English track. All Bhuvneshwar and Hazlewood had was a hint of swinging in the air and a relatively high zip off the pitch was needed to expose the technical flaws of a batting line-up that has thrived on mostly flatter decks. Much has been said about the power hitting on display this IPL. Conditions and a glimpse of help from the RCB duo started from the moment KL Rahul decided to expose debutant Sahil Parikh to take the first ball of the match against Bhubaneswar. Capitals batsmen were fluttering in the middle like frightened chickens, oblivious to what the ball was doing. The RCB fielders came together with a heavily manned slip cordon on the DC batsmen, a rarity in T20 cricket, to keep them on the mat. A dust storm erupted at the Arun Jaitley Stadium after the ninth over of the match, but the home side had already been blown away by the dangerous new-ball skills of Bhuvneshwar and Hazlewood. It was a moment when Abhishek Poral came in as an impact player in the third over of a designated opener match, tasked with playing the new ball. He scored 30 off 33 balls before Hazlewood bowled him in the 17th over and Delhi were still only 75.Short Score:DC: 75 all out in 16.3 overs (Abhishek Poral 30; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3/5, Josh Hazlewood 4/12).RCB: 77 for 1 in 6.3 overs (Dev Dutt Pedicle 34; Kyle Jamieson 1/42).
