The Royal Challengers Bengaluru remain firm in the top two on the points table with a victory over the Delhi Capitals in IPL 2026. But why did DC lose to RCB?
Today’s DC Vs RCB game was Match 39 of IPL 2026. It was played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, with the home team winning the toss and deciding to bat first. This immediately looked like a wrong decision. They lost their first wicket for a duck and lost their second soon after, then a third, then a fourth. Like that, they were struggling at 8/6. A rally towards the end brought DC to a much better, but not enough, total of 75.
In response, the Royal Challengers chased down this minuscule target with relative ease, winning this game by
In the Super Over, DC lost two wickets for just one run, and RCB chased the target down in just one ball with a boundary, winning the game.
Here, we will discuss the three reasons why RCB beat Delhi Capitals in Match 39 of IPL 2026.
DC Vs RCB: Why RCB Beat Delhi Capitals
1) DC Top Order Collapses
It did not take too long for the Delhi Capitals to fall behind the eight ball in this game, as their top and middle orders were thoroughly dismantled by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
It started in the worst way possible for the home side, as debutant Sahil Parakh, who also opened the batting for the Capitals, was bowled in his second IPL delivery for a duck in the first over of the match.
Then, in the second over, a much more crucial wicket fell as KL Rahul, who is the star batter in this team and scored a century in his last game, was dismissed for just a single run. This was followed by, on the very next ball, the dismissal of Sameer Rizvi for a golden duck. RCB wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma had caught two catches in as many deliveries.
Tristan Stubbs walked in and walked out of the field within an over. Until this point, he was his team’s highest scorer, getting out at five off three in the third over. Later in the third over, captain Axar Patel departed for a duck as the score was now 7/5.
Nitish Rana, after struggling quite a lot, got out at the end of the fourth over. He made one run in nine balls. After his wicket, the score was 8/6.
DC was in quite a dismal position and was at real risk of posting the lowest score in IPL history. This unwanted record currently belongs to DC’s opponents today, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, who were bundled out for just 49 runs against KKR in 2017.
However, Delhi’s lower-middle order would come to the rescue; well, at least they tried. The duo of David Miller and Impact Player Abhishek Porel would all but ensure that DC would not break the record for the lowest IPL total. Miller made 19 off 18 before getting out in the ninth over.
Kyle Jamieson made a cautious 12 off 13 before he got out in the 13th over. The score at this point was 62/8. DC might have been out of the record-breaking zone, but they were still the favourites to lose this game and lose it big.
Kuldeep Yadav fell for three off 11, and Abhishek Porel was DC’s last wicket on the night and also their highest run scorer with 30 off 33. Porel’s efforts brought the Capitals to a total of 75 runs. While nowhere near enough, at least it ensured that RCB would maintain their record of 49.
2) The Bhuvi-Hazlewood Connection
Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood might be the scariest pace duo in IPL 2026. The two veteran pacers are not only accurate throughout the innings but quite deadly as well. The two not only dismantled the DC batting order with their sharp bowling tonight but also completely dismantled the opposition.
The Delhi Capitals won the toss and decided to bat first, a bad idea! On just the second ball of the first over of the inning, Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled debutant opener Sahil Parakh for a duck off a precise swinging yorker.
He would return to bowl the third over and take two massive wickets this time, dismissing Tristan Stubbs for five runs and Axar Patel for a duck. For all this time, the 36-year-old would swing the ball a yard and do it both ways.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar ended his spell on the night with three overs, in which he took three wickets and conceded just five runs at an insane economy of 1.67.
On the other hand, Josh Hazlewood had a dream game tonight as well, taking a four-fer. His first wicket would come on his first ball of the game. A perfectly pitched delivery found the top edge of KL Rahul, who was trying to score a boundary but was instead caught by the wicketkeeper.
Jitesh Sharme got another catch on the very next ball, as Sameer Rizvi edged a ball moving away from him and was caught behind for a duck.
Hazlewood got his third wicket on the night, dismissing Nitish Rana, who had been struggling in his brief time at the crease tonight. Josh Hazlewood took his last wicket on the night on the last ball of DC’s innings, dismissing Abhishek Porel.
The Aussie bowled 3.3 overs today and took four wickets. He conceded just 12 runs at an economy of 3.43.
Other Royal Challengers bowlers contributed as well. The spin duo of Suyash Sharma and Krunal Pandya bowled six overs together, in which time they took two wickets and conceded 16 runs at an economy of 2.67.
Rasikh Salam gave away 21 runs in just two overs but also took a massive wicket in David Miller, while Romario Shepherd conceded 21 runs in two overs as well. But it was truly the Bhuvi-Hazlewood show for RCB in the game.
3) A No-Nonsense Run Chase
The first innings of this DC vs RCB game would suggest that tonight’s pitch at the Arun Jaitley Stadium might be too difficult for the batters, but RCB’s chase proved that with a clear head and cautious batting, there would not be too much trouble.
The innings was opened by the duo of Virat Kohli and Jacob Bethell, the latter of whom was only playing his second game this season and is, according to general manager wisdom, playing out of position.
Bethell would take the charge, hitting back-to-back massive sixes in the third over to Kyle Jamieson, who was replacing an injured Lungi Ngidi tonight. The second of these maximums went for 104m. However, after making 20 off 11, the Englishman would be dismissed by Jamieson for 20 off 11, following a solid catch by Dushmantha Chameera in the deep.
Devdutt Padikkal came to bat at No. 3 with only one aim: to finish the game as soon as possible. He had a six and a four in the first full over he faced. Then, in the fifth over, bowled by Kyle Jamieson, he made 20 runs in five deliveries, as the score raced up to 60/1 in five overs. At this point, the winning equation for RCB was a laughable one, as they needed 16 runs in 15 overs, or 90 deliveries.
Before Bengaluru won this game, Virat Kohli scored his 11th run for the night. While that might not be anything special, it was also his 9000th run in the IPL. The former Indian cricket team captain is truly in a league of his own, as he has a lead of more than 1700 runs over the second-placed Rohit Sharma in the all-time highest run scorers in the IPL list.
Virat, apart from reaching an unbelievable milestone, would also finish this game with back-to-back sixes at the start of the seventh over, ending the night with 23 runs on 15 balls. Padikkal, on the other hand, made 34 off 13.
RCB ended up winning this game by nine wickets with 81 balls remaining, despite a spirited attempt to put forth a challenge by the DC bowling order. This is the second-largest margin of deliveries left in a win for an IPL game. The record was set by the Mumbai Indians, who in 2008 beat KKR with 87 balls to spare.
While Bhuvneshwar Kumar had a dream day with the ball in this game, Josh Hazlewood was named the Player of the Match for his 3.3 over spell with the figures 4/12.
With this win, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru remain second on the points table with six wins, two losses, 12 points, and the best net run rate in the league in eight games.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Capitals stay at seventh on the points table. In the eight games they have played, they have lost five and have won just three, netting them six points and a poor net run rate.
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