Delhi Capitals will aim to end their 18-year title drought in 2025. The team has strengthened its batting, but the fast bowling’s heavy dependence on foreign players is a big challenge.
New Delhi: The season started with 5 wins in 6 matches, but in the end the team could not even reach the playoffs. The turning point was the two defeats against Mumbai Indians. But was this the only reason for Delhi Capitals’ title dreams being shattered? No, the real reason was the inability to find a balanced playing eleven throughout the tournament and the constant ups and downs in the performance of the players. Now the question is whether this time Delhi will be able to end the wait of 18 years? Is the team strong enough to correct its past mistakes?
The biggest challenge for Delhi in 2025 was the opening combination. Five different pairs took the field in 14 matches. KL Rahul, Faf du Plessis, Abhishek Porel, Karun Nair and Jake Fraser-McGurk were sent to open in different matches. But this time the management has included many specialist openers in the team to solve this problem. These include England’s Ben Duckett, Sri Lanka’s Pathum Nissanka, Prithvi Shaw, apart from Rahul and Abhishek Porel.
The most important thing here is to find the right combination, especially deciding the role of KL Rahul. Last season, Rahul was tried in both middle order and opening positions. He scored 539 runs in 13 innings at a strike rate of 150. But looking at the team for this season, it seems that Rahul is not needed in the middle order. There is a long army of batsmen like Karun Nair, David Miller, Axar Patel, Ashutosh Sharma, Tristan Stubbs and Nitish Rana in the dugout. Therefore, there is full hope that Rahul will open for Delhi.
The pair of Rahul and Ben Duckett is good for left-right combination, but Pathum Nissanka’s form in the T20 World Cup also cannot be ignored. Nissanka was Sri Lanka’s top scorer, while Duckett remained on the bench for England. Delhi’s hopes this time rest on this long batting line-up. The middle order is not weak. David Miller, who was a complete disappointment in 2025, regained his old colors in the World Cup. This left-handed batsman scored 174 runs in 6 innings at an average of 58 and strike rate of 155. Stubbs’s performance was also good in the World Cup.
Nitish Rana was Delhi’s top scorer in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He scored 274 runs at a strike rate of 148. However, Karun Nair’s form is a matter of concern. His bat was silent in the last round of Ranji and he completely failed in Syed Mushtaq Ali. Only his performance in Vijay Hazare Trophy was special. Only on the basis of Karun’s form will other Indian players get a chance in the playing eleven.
There is nothing to worry about in the spin department of Delhi. The team has wicket-taking bowlers like Kuldeep Yadav, Akshar Patel and Vipraj Nigam. Akshar is the captain, so his place in the team is confirmed. Vipraj has the advantage of being an all-rounder, but the current form is with Kuldeep Yadav.
Now let’s talk about pace attack. The real strength of Delhi’s fast bowling is the foreign players – Mitchell Starc, Lungi Ngidi, Kyle Jamieson and Dushmantha Chameera. Indian fast bowlers include T. Natarajan and Mukesh Kumar. If Natarajan and Mukesh are unable to maintain their rhythm in the tournament, Delhi may have to reshuffle their entire playing eleven. To include foreign fast bowlers, the batting line-up will have to be cut, due to which batting will largely depend on Indian players.
The 2025 season shows that making a comeback after consecutive defeats has been a big challenge for Delhi. Apart from this, Akshar Patel being less experienced as a captain was also a factor. This time, only time will tell whether Delhi, which is coming with a better team, will be able to end the wait of 18 years or not.