The IPL title has eluded Delhi Capitals for 18 seasons now, and it won’t be a surprise if the script is repeated in its 19th season. Delhi Capitals have more often than not lost their IPL seasons at the auction table itself save for a couple of seasons when Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly had put forth a quality side. Rishabh Pant’s unfortunate accident did create a void in the 2023 season and since then, things have once again gone off the boil.
The swapping of management from JSW to GMR (as per agreement) also meant that new coaching staff headlined by Hemang Badani and Venugopal Rao came in with fresh philosophy and also got rid of Pant before the auctions.While the team’s coaching staff can be chuffed that releasing Pant was a prudent call looking at his disastrous show for LSG after a record fee of Rs 27 crore, but getting KL Rahul for half the price didn’t serve much purpose as the Indian Test specialist could hardly win any games where pressure factor was high
Delhi Capitals, previously the Delhi Daredevils, have more often than not got it wrong at the auction table and hence, most of the seasons, they fail to qualify for the play-offs.
Delhi Capitals ousted off IPL 2025 due to poor performance in the second half after a solid and stellar chance
Delhi Capitals have had a season of two extreme halves. Under new captain Axar Patel, Delhi made a promising start, winning all the first four matches to reign at the top of the points table. However, they incurred a sharp turnaround thereafter, losing six of their next eight matches, which eventually led to their elimination from the race to the playoffs in the ongoing IPL 2025.
Delhi Capitals met their eventual fate on Wednesday at the Wankhede Stadium, after suffering a 59-run loss against Mumbai Indians. It was their fourth straight defeat in a completed game, having last secured a win exactly a month back at the Ekana Stadium against the Lucknow Super Giants.
This year, the start had surprised one and all. At the halfway stage, they were in pole position winning five of their first six games but everything went haywire with one magical delivery from Mitchell Santner that squared up Karun Nair and DC lost the plot.
The biggest factor for DC would be losing four out of their five home games at Feroz Shah Kotla, a track which couldn’t be deciphered properly by the all-India coaching staff of Venu, Badani and Munaf. The trio were the support staff that guided Dubai Capitals to its maiden ILT20 title but removing Ricky Ponting (whose PBKS team has looked one of the best so far) on that premise was a very poor call by the management.
The troika had no clue as to what kind of combination works at Kotla. Not that they had too many options to manoeuvre and beyond five foreigners, one being an out of form Jake Fraser McGurk, they didn’t have a reliable sixth option to fall back upon. Why was Abishek Porel (301 runs), the second highest run-getter for DC, shunted down despite getting those starts was a big question to the start.
People are at their wits’ end as to how a team can consistently lose home games. Even the only match that they won was a brilliant 20th and subsequent Super Over bowled by Mitchell Starc, who didn’t comeback after IPL resumed post one week suspension. That match against Rajasthan Royals was as good as lost.
Ditto for the opening game in Vizag where Ashutosh Sharma and Vipraj Nigam pulled off a heist against LSG. And the way things were going, the Dharamsala game that was stopped due to Pakistan drone attack was clearly being dominated by Punjab Kings, who would have scored anything between 220 and 240 had the innings been completed.
DC had some decent performances but there weren’t any exceptional outings. Rahul once again had a 500-run plus season and at a decent strike-rate of over 148. But like earlier years with other franchises, Rahul’s runs beefed his statistics but not the team’s. His century against Gujarat Titans was a fine knock but even then the runs lost in the Powerplay cannot be overlooked. Rahul is a fabulous player but the T20 grammar has undergone a sea change and neither was he good during big chases nor when DC needed to set up big totals.
The biggest disappointment is surely skipper Axar Patel and his bowling form nosedived considerably in this edition. Five wickets from 12 games and unfortunately not being available on a Wankhede track where Mitchell Santner worked his magic did not help his cause.Delhi co-oner Parth Jindal after his team ousted out of IPL 2025 apologized the fans for the same and also expressed his views on the same.
Delhi Capitals co owner Parth Jindal slams DC’s poor performance in IPL 2025 with poor performance
Delhi Capitals were looking to seal their spot in the final playoffs berth, but the defeat handed Mumbai the ticket. Following the loss, Delhi co-oner Parth Jindal was left “reeling” as he apologised to the fans of the franchise. He demanded an “introspection” after a horrid show in the second half of the season, which he deemed “extremely poor.”
He tweeted: “Sorry to all @DelhiCapitals fans – like you, I too am reeling from the second half of the season. What started so well ended extremely poorly,” he wrote. “There are positives to take from this campaign but for now all focus on the next game which we need to win. Post the season there will need to be a lot of introspection on a lot of aspects.”
Delhi Capitals head coach Hemang Badani reckoned the team’s failure to settle down in a designated opening pair were among the primary reasons behind the team being unable to reach the playoffs. Delhi Capitals tried out as many as seven partners with no considerable success in 13 matches, and will now take on Punjab Kings in their last game on Saturday .This season for DC certainly seemed to be one without any planning. Till individuals won them games, they looked good but beyond that it was the same old saga.
Also Read: PBKS vs DC : Resurgent PBKS Aims For Top 2 Position Against Scratchy DC