"Just a little bit in the surface" was all that Royal Challengers Bengaluru seamer Josh Hazlewood and his new-ball partner Bhuvneshwar Kumar needed to reduce Delhi Capitals (DC) to 13 for 6, the lowest powerplay score in IPL history.
Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar bowled three overs each in the powerplay and took 3 for 5 and 3 for 6, respectively. DC were bundled out for 75, their third-lowest total of all time and RCB went on to win with 81 balls to spare.
"There was a little bit there in the first six overs, which we maximised," Hazlewood said. "I think there's 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 quickly from short of a length in particular, and probably once the ball got soft, it became more consistent.
"It feels like Bhuvi and I have been pretty close to producing a really good powerplay, so yeah, I just followed his lead basically again, and what happened happened, so it was a great result."
The previous game in Delhi, between DC and Punjab Kings (PBKS), aggregated 529 runs, but this was a different pitch. Still, no one expected DC to collapse the way they did.
"Even I'm surprised the way the wicket played," RCB captain Rajat Patidar said. "All credit goes to the bowlers, the way they've bowled, especially in the powerplay, Hazelwood and Bhuvi, I think the way they hit those areas and got that bit of swing, that was tremendous to see. I think the swing was normal, and the good thing was we got early wickets and that's why it kept us in the driving seat."
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DC captain Axar Patel also put it down to the quality of the bowlers.
"They [Bhuvneshwar and Hazlewood] are world-class bowlers," he said. "They swing the ball and have done it at every ground. If our openers or one-down batters had batted one or two more overs, it could have been a different score or a different match. Credit to them for the way they bowled."
DC's batters came into this game with confidence after their game against PBKS. But the fact that they lost the game despite putting up 264 did play on their mind today, according to Axar. Any intentions of tempering their approach could not be put into practice as five of DC's top-six batters fell after facing three balls or fewer.
"After what happened last game, I think the team felt just a little bit that we couldn't win even after we scored so many runs. It was a game where you win nine or ten out of ten times. There was just a two-day gap after that and I feel we were agitated today.
"There was also bad luck. No batsmen managed to get set, they lost their wickets in one or two balls, it wasn't that batters were dismissed after getting set. We lost six wickets in 15-16 [17] balls, so I think it was bad luck and we have to move on."