Most of the second and third tier stands were only just starting to fill at the Arun Jaitley Stadium when the action got underway. In a venue that routinely witnesses run-fests, stretching four hours even, few in the late-arriving office crowd were in a hurry. After all, it was a Monday.
But this was no ordinary @L0$. The gravitational pull Virat Kohli has on his city guarantees a full house year after year for this fixture. What few latecomers would have anticipated, though, was Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar tearing apart the modern-day T20 script. Under four overs and 25 minutes of pure mayhem was all it took, even before a fair chunk of that sellout crowd had scanned their tickets at the turnstiles.
Those who were seated by ball one, though, witnessed spells straight out of a Test match classic in coloured clothing - pronounced swing and for an extended period than what has been the norm, seam off the pitch, and relentless probing by two masters of their craft who exploited the conditions to the hilt.
First up, Bhuvneshwar tested Delhi's newest opener Sahil Parakh with an outswinger straight away that hit the outside edge of his bat. What followed was a searing yorker, tailing in late to castle the middle-stump - a picture so perfect Bhuvneshwar didn't feel the need to flex with a loud celebration lest it dilute the moment. Two balls was all it took for his 18 years of experience to win against an 18-year-old IPL debutant.
At the other end, Hazlewood hurried KL Rahul - fresh off a record-breaking 152* on the adjacent pitch - into a pull with a rearing back-of-length delivery. Even before Jitesh Sharma settled under the inevitable top-edge that ballooned, Virat Kohli had nearly completed his sprint towards the bowler and Rahul was already walking.
Sameer Rizvi, struggling to regain his midas touch after a dream start to the season, was next. A fuller ball, in the channel outside off that tempted the batter into a drive. Rizvi took the bait, Jitesh pouched the edge and Hazlewood was on a hat-trick before DC could even fathom what had hit them.
Tristan Stubbs denied him that, but didn't last long afterwards. Bhuvneshwar continued to swing it both ways, and the South African nicked a length ball shaping away late through to wide slip where Devdutt Padikkal was already waiting.
Just 15 balls in and RCB new-ball pair had inflicted enough damage to curb any counterattacking instincts from DC. Axar Patel, coming in ahead of David Miller, sought to see them off and was looking to defend the good length ball that swung away late to catch the bottom-edge of his bat through to the 'keeper. Hazlewood then pitched a few up to set up Nitish Rana with a sharp shot ball on the body, who fended it awkwardly off his arm to gully.
In just 23 deliveries, Delhi were six down for just eight runs on the board. Hazlewood had taken his 3 for 6 runs while Bhuvneshwar's figures read 3 for 3 at the end of this carnage. Together they condemned DC to the lowest Powerplay total in the competition's history - 13/6. Between them, the duo bowled 30 dots - that is five overs of pure pressure from their eight combined.
An unexpected dust storm swept in on cue as Delhi lost their last hope in David Miller by the close of the ninth over. Ironically, the dust had long since settled on the game. Much to the surprise of both the camps.
"Turning up here after 500-plus runs last game, we probably weren't expecting what happened, but, yeah, it feels like Bhuvi and I have been pretty close to producing a really good Powerplay," Hazlewood said after his match haul of 4 for 12 earned him the PoTM award. "I just followed Bhuvi's lead basically and, what happened, happened.
"There was a little bit there in the first-six overs, which we maximised. There was a little bit up and down, maybe a little bit of sideways, so there was enough there to work with. The ball seemed to be skidding on quite quickly from short of a length in particular, and probably once the ball got soft, it became more consistent," said the Australian whose two victims of the short-ball ploy were the partners who forged the 200+ stand in DC's 264 one day ago.
"You wanted the batter to try and hit the ball back down the wicket and play in the V. I felt like from that length and that line, a nice straight line, that was probably the most was in the wicket. And then obviously the short ball was nice as well. So it was just about the accuracy of the short ball in particular. But I think, no matter where you pitched, it sort of ended up at the right height. It was one of those wickets," he concluded.
Axar, admittedly still reeling from the shock of it all, could only doff his hat to the RCB new-ball pair. "I wouldn't say surprised - they are world-class bowlers. They can generate swing anywhere, they've done it on every ground. Today they bowled very well."
In the era where T20 cricket is defined by reckless and relentless hitting, high-quality bowling still stands out as the true differentiator, and the first four overs at the Kotla on Monday will be the greatest advertisement for that. Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar together just leaned on traditional virtues rather than trying to tame aggression with aggression. Their skills and precision flipped the script in an otherwise punishing venue for their ilk, effectively rendering every one of the 115 balls that followed largely academic.
