Good morning,
DC looked at CSK taking painfully long 12 overs to get to 50 and said, cute, we will self-destruct before you can finish the drink you paid extra ten bucks for. They were 8 for 6 in the Powerplay at one stage, with the scorecard resembling an OTP.
So, if you were one of those in Delhi who couldn't find a ticket to this @L0$, this may have been the rare case of rejection working in your favour. Here's Cricbuzz Pulse, your 2-min morning scan of the IPL-verse.
@B0$
At a venue where 265 was chased down the other day like breezing past Silk Board Junction via the new double decker flyover, DC were bundled out for 75.
Bhuvneshwar returned 3-0-5-3 and Hazlewood 3-0-8-3 as DC staggered to 13/6 after six overs, the @L1$ Powerplay score in IPL history.
Ball nibbling, edges flying, two slips waiting... yes, this was unapologetically fun to watch.
Abishek Porel and David Miller added 35 to make the scorecard look marginally less illegal.
Kohli and Padikkal then smashed 65 in the Powerplay and @L2$ up the second-shortest completed IPL match ever.
@B1$
DC handed a debut cap to 18-year-old Sahil Parakh. KL Rahul handed him the strike. Bhuvneshwar Kumar handed him an inswinging unplayable yorker he had no business facing this early in life. A famous two-ball duck.
@B2$
The @B3$ goes to Hazlewood and Bhuvi for turning DC into a multiverse of collapses.
The @B4$ goes to Delhi's pitch and the pitch reporters on broadcast for being impossible to trust.
The @B5$ goes to Sahil Parakh, whose first proper IPL memory is now an inswinging Bhuvneshwar yorker aimed at his toes.
The @B6$ goes to Romario Shepherd for personally ensuring scoreboards keep moving upward irrespective of when, where and what he's bowling.
The @B7$ goes to Mumbai Indians for @L3$ Keshav Maharaj as Santner's replacement and giving this IPL a proper troika of a King, a Prince and now a Maharaj.
@B8$
The Impact Sub era has made the Powerplay the IPL's biggest make-or-break phase. @L4$ in the first six overs than they did in 2022, while the average has also risen from 31.57 to 35.61, meaning sides are attacking harder without losing extra wickets. Not surprisingly, the current top four teams are also the four best PowerPlay batting sides this season.
@B9$
Axar Patel admitted he had little clue "what just happened" after the game, before adding that Delhi Capitals would have to "forget this and move on".
Rajat Patidar said he was "surprised" by how much the pitch did early on, insisting the original plan was never to burn through Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood's overs upfront.
Bhuvneshwar himself confessed he was "a bit surprised" by the amount of swing on offer, while Hazlewood @L5$ the ball was skidding sharply off a hard length and his simple brief was to keep the batters playing in the V.
@B10$
DC have now been bowled out for 75 or below three times in the IPL, the second-most by any franchise. The team with the most? RCB, who were kind enough to oversee this one too.
@B11$
Birdies say folks in Australia and England are scratching their heads at how the same Indian venue can play like two completely different grounds on two different days. One night it is 250-plus with batters smiling and the next day, the ball is seaming around with two slips in play. By design? "In internationals, yes. In IPL, not always," says a well-placed source.
@B12$
It's PBKS @L6$ RR in New Chandigarh, in what's their last home game at the venue. Watch out for the battle of the opening pairs!
@B13$
A teenager is going to make you feel old, very old.
