Delhi Capitals finished on 6th spot in IPL 2026 with 7 wins and 7 losses.
DC came close to winning numerous matches but fell short of the finish line. They suffered a devastating one-run defeat at home to the Gujarat Titans and were unable to defend a big total of 264 against the Punjab Kings.
To compound their problems, they dropped numerous catches, which proved to be critical in their losses to the Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
"There were many games that I genuinely felt that could go either way. And we did not seize those moments. One being the Gujarat game, we lost the game by one run. The 264 is again something that you would fancy yourself to defend that score. Even with CSK, we dropped some catches. With SRH, we dropped some catches at a crucial time of the game,” Badani said at the post-match press conference on Sunday.
While batters failed to form meaningful partnerships and lost wickets in clusters, DC's bowling was the most disappointing. They managed only 64 wickets in 14 games, the joint-lowest tally among all teams.
"Even with us batting, we did not hold on to our wickets many times. We have lost too many in clusters, if you go back and see the stats. And as a bowling side, you ideally want to pick a lot of wickets. If you see the stats with sides picking wickets, I think we are right at the bottom. I think a culmination of all of it is the reason why we are at 14 points, and we could have been a lot better than that,” Badani added.
The loss of pace spearhead Mitchell Starc, who was their outstanding bowler the previous year, for the majority of the season also impacted the Delhi team. However, Badani maintained that DC had enough chances to qualify even without the Australian fast bowler.
"He is obviously a fabulous player. He is obviously somebody who has done exceedingly well in all formats, and him not being available to us for the first nine games does hamper our progress. But I think on the whole, even without him, we had our moments.
Even without him, we had our chances to qualify. Yes, Starc does make a huge difference. But I think, as a side, I genuinely feel that if we had played those small, small, little, little margins and if we had seized those little margins, we would have still been alive in the tournament," he said.
Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings are the only two original IPL franchises yet to win the IPL title. While PBKS have played the finals twice in 2014 and 2025, DC have made it to the summit clash only once, in IPL 2020, where they lost to the Mumbai Indians in Dubai.
(ANI inputs)