IPL Play of the Day: Saturday night's 264 hangover drowns DC on windy Monday
Three days, two heartbreaking losses. Delhi Capitals have lost their way in the Indian Premier League. How did the team manage to get bowled out for just 75 runs at their own home? We discuss in the IPL Play of the Day.
It was a tale of two extremes for the Delhi Capitals in a space of three days. On Saturday, they scored 264 runs against Punjab Kings and still lost the match. The remnants of that loss were felt on Monday, as Delhi were blown out of the water by Royal Challengers Bengaluru, who dismissed the home team for just 75 runs.
Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled stupendous 3-over spells in the powerplay, reducing the team to 13 for 6, and no team in the world can come back from that in this day and age in the Indian Premier League. For people who have watched the game, they know that already. In case you have not, I urge you to read Akshay Ramesh's match report, where he eloquently explained how good Hazlewood and Bhuvi were on Monday.
RCB vs DC: HIGHLIGHTS | SCORECARD
So, here, in our IPL Play of the Day, we discuss how the hangover of Saturday's match against Punjab Kings dictated Delhi Capitals' psychology against RCB on Monday.
Delhi Capitals were so bad on Monday that they could not do anything but laugh at their own fate. Axar Patel spoke to the broadcaster right after the game and admitted that he had no idea what had gone wrong with his team midway through the Indian Premier League.
“Even I don’t know what happened. You have to be on your toes in cricket. We need to forget these losses and move on,” Axar Patel said after the match.
IPL: HAZLEWOOD, BHUVI STRIKE vs DC
To elaborate on what prompted the comment, Delhi Capitals could not catch a break against the defending champions.
The hosts, desperate to return to winning ways, had made three changes to their team. But thunder struck in the very first over when Bhuvneshwar Kumar's ripping inswinger dismantled the stumps of debutant Sahil Parakh with the second ball of the game.
With nip in the air, Bhuvneshwar licked his lips and completed a sensational first over, where he beat the outside edge multiple times.
The second over was even more threatening. Hazlewood cranked up the heat with a sharp short ball to KL Rahul, who was coming off a ridiculous 152* from the previous game. Rahul was caught off guard and ended up skying the ball, and a simple catch was completed by Jitesh Sharma behind the stumps.
And from there on, it was just one wicket after the other, till DC were reduced to 13 runs for the loss of 6 wickets, the worst powerplay ever recorded in the history of the IPL.
DC vs RCB: HANGOVER OF 264 vs PUNJAB
Not a single one of the DC batters thought to see the spell off. They poked, they slashed, and ended up losing their wickets one after the other.
It was probably brave for the captain himself to come to the post-match press conference and front up to the reporters. Axar took the questions on his chin and explained how the trauma from the previous game forced them into playing in a certain way.
For Axar, when the team saw the pitch, they went up in unison: this is the same pitch from Saturday.
Once that scar resurfaced, the team came together with the only solution possible: If we did not win by scoring 264, we will simply score more runs today.
But that thought process did not hold, as two absolutely world-class bowlers exploited the light wind inside the stadium and eked out all the swing available. And once swing was available, there are very few bowlers better than Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood in the world.
Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar got to work and wrecked Delhi to the point that there was no way back.
“There was very little time between the games. I think that the team thought that if we were not able to defend 264, then we needed to score more. It was a little bit of bad luck also, that we lost 5 wickets in 15-16 balls. Honestly, I think we just need to forget it,” Axar Patel said.
Axar delved deep into the team's psyche in the press conference, explaining how the team had faltered on Monday.
“I seriously think that this was the same wicket as the 264 one. I think at the back of the mind the batters thought that they would get similar bounce. But today, there was wind, Saturday's match was a day game, and today it was a night game, and hence I think the pacers got a lot more movement,” Axar Patel replied to India Today's query at the post-match press conference.
“At the same time, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood are world-class bowlers, and they were able to bowl at great lengths where they found swing. Our batsmen stayed in last game's momentum, and thought that the ball would come onto the bat well. Once we lost the first two wickets, the others got a rude shock. But we should have been professional and handled the situation,” he concluded.
DESPERATION KICKS IN
And that was where the match was truly lost. In the lingering shadow of Saturday night. Delhi walked into Monday still carrying the weight of 264 and the disbelief of losing that game. By the time they realised this was a different game on a different night, the damage had already been done. The hangover had arrived, and it drowned them completely.
Delhi were not just battling Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar, they were battling the ghosts of Saturday’s defeat against Punjab Kings. The memory of scoring 264 and still ending up on the losing side forced them into a desperate mindset, one where survival was replaced by urgency and patience was replaced by panic.
They walked in wanting to score more, not understanding that this was a completely different challenge. They never really adjusted to it and the game was already gone.
IPL 2026 | IPL Schedule | IPL Points Table | IPL Player Stats | Purple Cap | Orange Cap | IPL Videos | Cricket News | Live Score
It was a tale of two extremes for the Delhi Capitals in a space of three days. On Saturday, they scored 264 runs against Punjab Kings and still lost the match. The remnants of that loss were felt on Monday, as Delhi were blown out of the water by Royal Challengers Bengaluru, who dismissed the home team for just 75 runs.
Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled stupendous 3-over spells in the powerplay, reducing the team to 13 for 6, and no team in the world can come back from that in this day and age in the Indian Premier League. For people who have watched the game, they know that already. In case you have not, I urge you to read Akshay Ramesh's match report, where he eloquently explained how good Hazlewood and Bhuvi were on Monday.
RCB vs DC: HIGHLIGHTS | SCORECARD
So, here, in our IPL Play of the Day, we discuss how the hangover of Saturday's match against Punjab Kings dictated Delhi Capitals' psychology against RCB on Monday.
Delhi Capitals were so bad on Monday that they could not do anything but laugh at their own fate. Axar Patel spoke to the broadcaster right after the game and admitted that he had no idea what had gone wrong with his team midway through the Indian Premier League.
“Even I don’t know what happened. You have to be on your toes in cricket. We need to forget these losses and move on,” Axar Patel said after the match.
IPL: HAZLEWOOD, BHUVI STRIKE vs DC
To elaborate on what prompted the comment, Delhi Capitals could not catch a break against the defending champions.
The hosts, desperate to return to winning ways, had made three changes to their team. But thunder struck in the very first over when Bhuvneshwar Kumar's ripping inswinger dismantled the stumps of debutant Sahil Parakh with the second ball of the game.
With nip in the air, Bhuvneshwar licked his lips and completed a sensational first over, where he beat the outside edge multiple times.
The second over was even more threatening. Hazlewood cranked up the heat with a sharp short ball to KL Rahul, who was coming off a ridiculous 152* from the previous game. Rahul was caught off guard and ended up skying the ball, and a simple catch was completed by Jitesh Sharma behind the stumps.
And from there on, it was just one wicket after the other, till DC were reduced to 13 runs for the loss of 6 wickets, the worst powerplay ever recorded in the history of the IPL.
DC vs RCB: HANGOVER OF 264 vs PUNJAB
Not a single one of the DC batters thought to see the spell off. They poked, they slashed, and ended up losing their wickets one after the other.
It was probably brave for the captain himself to come to the post-match press conference and front up to the reporters. Axar took the questions on his chin and explained how the trauma from the previous game forced them into playing in a certain way.
For Axar, when the team saw the pitch, they went up in unison: this is the same pitch from Saturday.
Once that scar resurfaced, the team came together with the only solution possible: If we did not win by scoring 264, we will simply score more runs today.
But that thought process did not hold, as two absolutely world-class bowlers exploited the light wind inside the stadium and eked out all the swing available. And once swing was available, there are very few bowlers better than Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood in the world.
Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar got to work and wrecked Delhi to the point that there was no way back.
“There was very little time between the games. I think that the team thought that if we were not able to defend 264, then we needed to score more. It was a little bit of bad luck also, that we lost 5 wickets in 15-16 balls. Honestly, I think we just need to forget it,” Axar Patel said.
Axar delved deep into the team's psyche in the press conference, explaining how the team had faltered on Monday.
“I seriously think that this was the same wicket as the 264 one. I think at the back of the mind the batters thought that they would get similar bounce. But today, there was wind, Saturday's match was a day game, and today it was a night game, and hence I think the pacers got a lot more movement,” Axar Patel replied to India Today's query at the post-match press conference.
“At the same time, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood are world-class bowlers, and they were able to bowl at great lengths where they found swing. Our batsmen stayed in last game's momentum, and thought that the ball would come onto the bat well. Once we lost the first two wickets, the others got a rude shock. But we should have been professional and handled the situation,” he concluded.
DESPERATION KICKS IN
And that was where the match was truly lost. In the lingering shadow of Saturday night. Delhi walked into Monday still carrying the weight of 264 and the disbelief of losing that game. By the time they realised this was a different game on a different night, the damage had already been done. The hangover had arrived, and it drowned them completely.
Delhi were not just battling Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar, they were battling the ghosts of Saturday’s defeat against Punjab Kings. The memory of scoring 264 and still ending up on the losing side forced them into a desperate mindset, one where survival was replaced by urgency and patience was replaced by panic.
They walked in wanting to score more, not understanding that this was a completely different challenge. They never really adjusted to it and the game was already gone.
IPL 2026 | IPL Schedule | IPL Points Table | IPL Player Stats | Purple Cap | Orange Cap | IPL Videos | Cricket News | Live Score
