Starc's new side, the Delhi Capitals, eased to a six-wicket victory over Hazlewood's Royal Challengers Bengaluru in front of disenchanted thousands at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday but the in-form Aussie pair's eagerly-anticipated duel fell flat as both suffered the familiar merciless IPL treatment.
Between them, they bowled half-a-dozen overs, didn't get a sniff of a wicket and were carted around for 75 runs at 12-and-a-half an over, with Starc's figures ending up 3-0-35-0 and Hazlewood's 3-0-40-0.
Starc's nightmarish over came with just the third of the day after Delhi elected to field first. A total of 30 runs came off it, including 20 off the bat from England opener Phil Salt, as the 35-year-old quick served up some erratic stuff.
For the record, the runs off that seven-ball over were 6, 4, 4, 5nb, 6, 1lb, 4lb.
It helped RCB get off to a flyer with Salt peppering a 17-ball 37 before wrist spinners Vipraj Nigam and Kuldeep Yadav picked up four wickets for just 35 runs in their combined eight overs to restrict them to 7-163.
RCB were indebted to another of Australian Tim David's excellent late cameos to make the score defendable as he cracked an unbeaten 37 off just 20 balls with four sixes and two fours.
For the third time in four innings this season, he was left unbeaten when starting to get into full flow, leaving the frustrating feeling that he's been a bit of a wasted resource for RCB.
The home side's total proved easy meat for Delhi, who, surprisingly, didn't use Hazlewood until the end of the power play.
He hasn't looked anywhere near as effective in the middle overs. and once Rahul had got into his stride following a couple of early wickets for Bhuvneshwar Kumar, his bowling looked ripe for the taking.
So, cue his own over from hell.
Rahul, upping the ante as the winning line drew nearer, smashed Hazlewood's third over for 4, 4, 2, 2, 4 and 6 - a total of 22, which effectively sealed the deal.
Rahul, who'd scored 77 in his previous knock against Chennai Super Kings, this time finished unbeaten on 93 off 53 balls after another masterful display as Delhi reached 4-169 with 13 balls to spare to make it four wins from four matches.
Rahul, who looked particularly pumped up to beat his former team on his old stamping ground, got considerable assistance from Tristan Stubbs (38no) with whom he combined in an IPL record unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 111 off 55 balls.
The only disappointment for Delhi was another failure with the bat for Jake Fraser-McGurk, who was dismissed for his third single-figure score (7) in four innings -- a far cry from his breathtaking debut season in 2024.
