Delhi Capitals (ANI Photo) Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings will resume their quest for a maiden Indian Premier League title when the 2026 season begins on March 28. Both franchises, despite nearly two decades in the competition, are yet to lift the trophy.Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan, who represented both teams, reflected on their journeys and highlighted the key reasons behind their long title drought.
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IPL 2026 should be an audition for India’s next T20I captain In an interview with JioStar, Pathan pointed out that Delhi struggled to identify talent in early 2010, which hindered their progress.“When I was in Delhi, the coach was Eric Simmons, who is now in CSK as the bowling coach, and there was an effort to bring stability. But when you drop a player like AB de Villiers and you have Andre Russell, it’s not easy to start from scratch. I played alongside Russell in the same dressing room and there were many consistent opportunities for him, but we didn’t find more space for him. So identifying talent is very important and I feel Delhi have been lagging in that area,” said Pathan.On the other hand, Punjab have shown signs of progress in recent seasons. Ahead of IPL 2025, the franchise made significant changes by appointing Australian great Ricky Ponting as head coach and signing Shreyas Iyer for ₹26.75 crore. The team enjoyed a strong campaign and reached the final before falling short of Royal Challengers Bengaluru.Pathan credited Punjab with improved leadership and strategic planning for their revival.“Management played a huge role in Punjab’s turnaround. You win half the IPL on the auction table. Big purses don’t necessarily mean you always get what you want, but they did it and made it to the final. Even in the mini-auction, they took bold but important calls like dropping non-players like Glenn Maxwell,” he explained.He also pointed to the situation involving Josh Inglis, noting how the circumstances affected their plans.“They were a bit unhappy with the Josh Inglis situation because he would have missed most of the season, but then you see another team going after him at a huge price. They are making a lot of right decisions in that regard,” Pathan added.Another key improvement, according to Pathan, was Punjab’s focus on strengthening the team’s depth.“Look at the back-up players. In the past, Punjab have struggled with this when they were solely focused on building the first XI, but now you see all-rounders like Azmatullah Omarzai, Marco Jansen and Marcus Stoinis, along with a young Indian batting core. Also, they went all out for Shreyas Iyer after they decided to captain Punja and I started. in the right direction,” he concluded.As IPL 2026 approaches, both Delhi and Punjab will be looking to finally break their title drought, armed with lessons from the past and renewed optimism for the future.
