IPL 2025: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazelwood's brilliance restrict Delhi Capitals to 162/8 in 20 overs

New Delhi [India], April 27 (ANI): Brilliant bowling performance from Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood restricted the Delhi Capitals (DC) franchise to 162/8 in their 20 overs at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday.
RCB skipper Rajat Patidar won the toss and elected to bowl first in the away fixture of the ongoing 18th edition of the cash-rich league.
Batters Faf du Plessis and Abhishek Porel came out to bat in the middle to open the innings. Both players put on a stand of 33 runs off 22 balls before Porel (28 runs from 11 balls) was sent back to the pavillion on the bowling of right-arm seamer Josh Hazelwood in the fourth over of their innings.
Following Porel's departure, right-hand batter Karun Nair (4) came out in the middle to bat, but he was sent back to the dressing in the fifth over by left-arm seamer Yash Dayal when the team score was 44.
The Capitals touched the 50-run mark in the sixth over as Du Plessis slammed a boundary on the second last ball, which was bowled by Hazelwood.
At the score of 72, the Delhi franchise lost their third wicket as Du Plessis (22 runs in 26 balls) was sent back on the bowling of skipper Hardik Pandya in the 10th over.
KL Rahul (41 runs off 39 balls), Tristan Stubbs (34 runs from 18 balls) and Axar Patel (15 runs in 13 balls) scored some crucial runs for their team as well before getting dismissed.
Right-hand batter Ashutosh Sharma came in as an impact substitute, but he was not able to make his mark as he was sent back after scoring just five runs.
In the end, young uncapped all-rounder Vipraj Nigam played a cameo of 12 runs from just six balls at a strike rate of 200, which took the Delhi Capitals side to 162/8 at the completion of the first innings.
For the Bangalore franchise, three wickets were snapped by Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3/33 in 4 overs), two wickets were grabbed by Josh Hazelwood (2/36 in 4 overs) and one wicket each was bagged by Yash Dayal (1/42 in 4 overs) & Krunal Pandya (1/28 in 4 overs) in their resprctive spells in the game.
Brief Score: Delhi Capitals 162/8 in 20 overs (KL Rahul 41) vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru. (ANI)