Cricket-Pitch perfect Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar show how to restore IPL's bat-ball balance

Royal Challengers Bengaluru's new-ball pair ​Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar offered ​a reminder on Monday that high-class ‌bowling, with ​a hint of assistance from the surface, can restore the bat-ball balance in this year's Indian Premier League (IPL).

The IPL has become a ‌batter's paradise, with flat pitches and short boundaries contributing to sky-high scores and teams routinely chasing down 200-plus totals. The impact player rule, which allows teams to replace a bowler with a specialist batter ‌during a match, has also contributed to what critics say is a lack of balance ‌between bat and ball this season.

On Saturday, Delhi Capitals racked up 264-2, briefly the season's highest total, and yet watched helplessly as Punjab Kings pulled off a record chase with seven balls to spare. Two days later, however, on a ⁠different, livelier ​surface at the same ⁠Arun Jaitley Stadium, Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar claimed seven wickets between them and bundled out Delhi for 75.

Delhi lost six ⁠wickets inside four overs, a stark contrast to the batting carnage often seen during powerplays. Both Bengaluru seamers bowled ​the conventional test match length and got the ball to swing around.

"Even I'm surprised the ⁠way the wicket played," Bengaluru captain Rajat Patidar said. "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."

Delhi captain Axar ⁠Patel said they struggled against two world-class bowlers. "They swing the ball and have done it at ⁠every ground," he added. "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."

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