If you are a Delhi Capitals fan or someone who actually lives and breathes women’s cricket, look elsewhere. Don’t screw up Thursday night. Don’t replay it in your head. Bury it somewhere deep and pretend it was just a bad dream, one of those you wake up with a sinking feeling in your stomach. Because the moment you think about it, all you’re going to get is heartbreak and then some.
If ever a book is written about sports hearts, the Delhi Capitals will not just feature in it, they will dominate the chapters.
After three-and-a-half hours of thrilling and nerve-wracking cricket in the WPL final, the question still remains: How? How did it get away? How on earth did Delhi Capitals lose this game? Yes, the Vadodara pitch was a belter, a bowler’s graveyard, the kind of surface where batsmen dream and bowlers suffer in silence. But a finish north of 200 in the finals isn’t just a number, it’s a mountain. He feels closer to 250 in the pressure cooker of a title clash.
Delhi Capitals captain Jemimah Rodrigues had a rough night. (Photo by AFP)
Everything was stacked in DC’s favor. Chance. Momentum. scenario. So much so that Royal Challengers Bengaluru had to pull off the most successful run-chase in WPL history.
WPL 2026 Final, RCB vs DC: Highlighting | Scorecard
The climactic clash of 2026 was meant to be redemption. A chance to erase the scars of the 2024 final. A chance to rewrite history. Instead, Delhi Capitals found themselves back in the same spot, watching RCB celebrate while being left with the same old familiar pain.
If heartbreak were art, the Delhi Capitals wouldn’t just be practitioners of it, they’d be Picasso.
NEVER FINALISTS, NEVER CHAMPIONS
Losing in the final is painful, but you learn to live with it. Losing two finals in a row still hurts, but you convince yourself that your time will come. Losing three finals in a row is when the questions start, when introspection becomes inevitable. But four finals in a row? That’s when you start to wonder if the Almighty himself wants you somewhere near the trophy.
For the first three years, it was Meg Lanning – a five-time World Cup winner with Australia – who was agonizingly behind at the final hurdle. A leader made for the biggest stages, denied again and again. This year it was Jemimah Rodrigues. She came so close, so heartbreakingly close, only to end up on the wrong side of the outcome when it mattered most. Different faces, same end. Fate seemed to have decided to be cruel to the Delhi Capitals.
Former DC captain Meg Lanning stands next to Harmanpreet Kaur in the 2023 final. (Photo by Reuters)
For three straight seasons, the team that won the Eliminator went on to lift the trophy. This time, Delhi Capitals won the Eliminator themselves, carried that momentum into the finals and still couldn’t get the job done. History offered them a lifeline – and then pulled them away at the last minute.
DC were excellent on Thursday night. But RCB were little more than that. It was a night decided by nerves, composure under unbearable pressure. The Capitals held their nerve but RCB held them for just a fraction longer. Or maybe it wasn’t just nerves. Maybe it was the invisible weight of three finals losses, sitting quietly in the back of DC’s minds as they left again, hoping this time would finally be different.
And then came a moment that would haunt them. When Minnu Mani dropped Radha Yadav’s catch in the penultimate over. With this chance, Delhi Capitals also canceled the match. Cricket is ruthless. Radha made them pay, hitting boundaries that sealed the fate of Delhi Capitals.
Jemima’s side tried with all they had. But as they say, one mistake can be fatal – and it certainly was on this night.
JEMIMAH IS STILL GROWING
While the Capitals suffered another heartbreak, it would be unfair — almost cruel — to ignore the way Jemimah Rodrigues inspired this team throughout the season. Thrust into the limelight, burdened with the responsibility of filling Meg Lanning’s tall shoes, Jemimah felt the heat early. Delhi Capitals have lost three of their first four games, staring at uncertainty and just one defeat away from an early exit.
But Jemimah didn’t break down. She didn’t back down. Instead, she kept finding ways to lift the team—inning by inning, moment by moment—when everything threatened to fall apart.
Before Thursday, critics were watching her closely. The final was not kind to her: scores of 0, 9 and 30 painted an unfair story. But this night was different. This time she stood straight. A 32-ball half-century under the crushing weight of the WPL final wasn’t just an innings – it was a statement.
From being dropped for back-to-back ducks in the World Cup, to fighting back with a hundred in the semi-finals to almost guiding Delhi Capitals to their first WPL title, Jemimah Rodrigues has been forged by fire. She has not only hardened as a cricketer but as a person who now understands pressure, pain and endurance at the highest level.
There is still a lot ahead of her. The Women’s T20 World Cup awaits next year. And when the WPL returns, the Capitals will be hoping Jemimah returns wiser, stronger and more confident – ready to finally lead them to the promised land.
Because maybe, just maybe, all those heart-filled nights, all four final defeats, will one day be worth it.
– The end
Issued by:
Kingshuk Kusari
Published on:
February 6, 2026
