IPL 2026 Live Score, Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Delhi Capitals (RCB vs DC) Live Score, Playing 11 Updates: Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru welcome the Delhi Capitals to Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday in the first game of an IPL 2026 double header. RCB are a win away from rising to the top of the standings while Delhi’s season has not been going great.
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For RCB, Virat Kohli and Rajat Patidar have been the standout batters so far, with Kohli currently second in the Orange Cap standings. Delhi Capitals’ batting meanwhile can be summed up by the fact that they have had only four half centuries from their batters so far, with Sameer Rizvi scoring two of them.
RCB and DC Squads:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Squad: Philip Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar(c), Jitesh Sharma(w), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Salam Dar, Venkatesh Iyer, Jordan Cox, Kanishk Chouhan, Mangesh Yadav, Jacob Duffy, Swapnil Singh, Nuwan Thushara, Jacob Bethell, Vicky Ostwal, Vihaan Malhotra, Abhinandan Singh, Satvik Deswal
Delhi Capitals Squad: Pathum Nissanka, KL Rahul(w), Sameer Rizvi, David Miller, Axar Patel(c), Tristan Stubbs, Auqib Nabi Dar, Lungi Ngidi, Kuldeep Yadav, T Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar, Vipraj Nigam, Ashutosh Sharma, Karun Nair, Dushmantha Chameera, Nitish Rana, Mitchell Starc, Kyle Jamieson, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Prithvi Shaw, Tripurana Vijay, Abishek Porel, Sahil Parakh, Madhav Tiwari
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Josh Hazlewood’s fake slower ball — and why it makes him RCB’s most dangerous weapon in IPL 2026
Lucknow Super Giants’ Nicholas Pooran, right, reacts after getting bowled out by Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Josh Hazlewood during an Indian Premier League cricket match. (AP Photo)
The grip suggested a slower ball. The loading suggested a slower ball. Nicholas Pooran, one of the most destructive left-handers in T20 cricket, read it as the slower ball. The ball arrived at 140.6 kmph. Pooran was late.
It was Wednesday night at Chinnaswamy. Hazlewood had just taken his first wicket of IPL 2026 — on his return from injury, in front of a crowd that knows him well. He had already forced Rishabh Pant off, retired hurt, after striking his right elbow with a sharp lifter. The delivery that dismissed Pooran explained everything: why he is central to RCB’s title defence — and why the IPL took so long to fully value him.
Andre Adams has a simple explanation for why Hazlewood works in T20 cricket, even when conventional wisdom said he shouldn’t.
“He’s not super fast. But he’s fast enough.”
