Delhi Capitals director of cricket Venugopal Rao has admitted that the franchise’s long wait for an IPL title—stretching across 18 years—still stings, and he pointed to uneven showings across multiple departments as the main reason their campaign has failed to gather momentum. Their playoff chances were effectively dealt a blow on Friday when Delhi absorbed their seventh defeat of the season, going down to Kolkata Knight Riders by eight wickets. With just one IPL crown still missing for both Delhi and Punjab Kings among the original franchises, the pressure has only grown. Rao also reminded that the best chapter in Delhi’s history came in 2020, when they reached their first-ever final and finished as runners-up, losing to Mumbai Indians by five wickets.
Rao, who represented Delhi between 2011 and 2013 before moving into the administration and coaching setup, said the absence of silverware continues to hurt. “Obviously, after 18 years in cricket, it hurts. When I look back at my playing days, I always wanted to win. But now, coming into the administrative and coaching side, there is still a lot I am learning through this process,” he remarked.
According to Rao, the season’s problems were not confined to a single facet of the game. Delhi began the tournament with two wins, but they were unable to build a steady rhythm, and multiple areas faltered at critical stages. “I cannot point to just one department. In different matches, different departments have let us down. Against Punjab, we scored heavily but then dropped catches while bowling. In some games, the bowlers did well but the batters could not adapt,” he said during the post-match interaction.
The DC hierarchy also believes the batting unit has struggled to adjust to varying conditions. Rao singled out the difficulty of reading surfaces and executing plans when the game situation changes quickly. “In the last two games especially, the batters struggled to adapt to the conditions. Overall, if you ask me, yes, batting has been an area where we needed to adapt better in certain conditions. Even in the first few games, after losing four or five wickets, we still managed to win a couple of matches. But sometimes, I think, the batting unit has let us down,” he added.
Rao further suggested that Delhi have not consistently seized the moments that can decide T20 contests—those brief spells when one side shifts momentum away from the other. “To win matches, you need to win key patches during the game. We have not done that consistently. If you look back, not just against Punjab but also Gujarat, there were moments where two balls or two runs shifted the momentum away from us,” he said. “In almost every game we have not managed to win the small moments and key phases. That is why we are in this position on the points table right now.”
Delhi’s situation has been made tougher by a drop in form from their captain Axar Patel and spinner Kuldeep Yadav. Rao argued that the bowling group looks far more complete when both are clicking together, particularly during the middle overs when the match often tilts. “With players like him (Kuldeep) and Axar, if both are in good form together, it strengthens the bowling group a lot. When one is doing well and the other is not, especially in the middle overs, it hurts the bowling unit. That is something we are facing at the moment.”
With only eight points from 11 matches, the Capitals sit eighth in the standings and now face an extremely challenging route to the playoffs. Their path requires winning their remaining three matches and hoping other results fall in their favour. “In the next three games we will see how things work out. We will take it one game at a time. Obviously, we will look at the bench players as well if required. That is definitely something we want to try and assess going forward,” Rao concluded.
