Superstar Aussie fast bowler Josh Hazlewood and teammate Bhuvneshwar Kumar routed Delhi Capitals for 75 and led defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a thumping nine-wicket win in the Indian Premier League.
Delhi made 2-264 against IPL leaders the Punjab Kings on Saturday but two days later was shot out for its third lowest total.
Australian Test and white-ball veteran Hazlewood picked up 4-12 and Kumar 3-5.
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“I still cannot understand what happened,” Delhi captain Axar Patel.
“In cricket… you cannot take it easy for even one day."
Bengaluru avenged its home loss to Delhi by cruising to 1-77 in 6.3 overs. Virat Kohli, the only man to pass 8000 IPL runs, passed 9000 with an unbeaten 23.
Kohli capped a perfect night for Bengaluru as he raised the victory with back-to-back sixes against Thangarasu Natarajan.
Devdutt Padikkal also hurried the run chase with 34 not out off just 13 balls that included two sixes and two fours in Kyle Jamiesen's one over.
“Even I am surprised (at how the game went),” Bengaluru captain Rajat Patidar said.
Earlier, Hazlewood and Kumar ripped through the Delhi top order with impressive swing bowling and searing yorkers.
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Hazlewood, 35, endured an injury-plagued home summer for Australia, missing the entire Ashes series against England and then withdrawing from the Twenty20 World Cup.
“When that ball was nice and hard, it was tough to bat,” Hazlewood said.
“(Last year) we summed up conditions quickly and adapted our games. Feel like we are hitting our straps again at the right time.”
The home team crashed to 6-8 within the first 23 balls of the game.
Impact player Abishek Porel top-scored with 30 and helped Delhi cross its previous lowest total of 66 from 2017.
Kumar’s perfect yorker uprooted debutant Sahil Parakh’s middle stump off the second ball and Hazlewood made it 3-2 with the wickets of Saturday century-maker Lokesh Rahul and Sameer Rizvi off successive balls.
Delhi lost half the side in the space of 16 balls with just five runs on the board when Kumar found the edges of Tristan Stubbs and Patel.
Hazlewood completed the top-order demolition when Nitish Rana gloved a catch in the fourth over to wide slip.
Bengaluru stayed second in the table after six wins from eight games. Delhi was seventh.
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