When Deli Capitals launched the IPL 2025 campaign, it seemed to me to remember the season – a narration based on high hopes, bold performances and faith that it could finally be their year. The first four matches? Flawless. Unbeaten. Did not understand. They looked like a team that had complete control of their fate.
However, the loss of 10 goals per gujarat titans in the boiler confirmed that the DC control slowly slipped away. The tone moved. Momentum disappeared. Of the title candidates, they fell into the chaotic center table and in the last six games they managed only two wins-one of them through Super Over.
The first trust was replaced by a desperate search for answers. Now they have to win their two remaining league matches with healthy running rates and hope that the next results will get to the top four.
On the middle of their well -known collapse of the season lies the wrong highest order, confused tactical decisions and incomprehensible abuse of staff.
Flying
Few teams hit the ground like Delhi Capitals. Their opening fourteen days was as close to perfect as it got. Four wins in four games. Ashutosh Sharma adds fireworks at death. Mitchell Starc shows death on the back of the shift. Although the cracks were visible during the launch, the team was still looking for ways to win.
These wins were not based on a solid strategy. They were exciting, unpredictable and mostly carried individual brilliance. There was no tactical plan, but there was faith, and most importantly, points on the album. And it was enough for a moment.
Tests and Mistakes of the Supreme Order
Jake Fraser-McGurk tried to get off in IPL 2025.
As the season continued, the highest order Delhi Capitals became their greatest responsibility. In 10 games they experimented with seven different initial combinations – the highest of any team this season. Their most productive pairing, FAF du Plessis and Jake Fraser-McGurk, only dialed 30.7 at a strike of 131.4-digits, which simply does not cut it in the league, which is increasingly defined by explosive powerplay.
Abishek Porel soon made a promise, but couldn’t build on it. His shifts against GT, where he briefly blinked before the soft release, summarized his campaign in the miniature. Fraser-McGurk arrived with a reputation for aggressive launching, but it wasn’t. The FAF du Plessis has mastered fifty fifty against the KKR, but its recent returns – 2, 22, 29 and 5 – indicate the dough of synchronization with its timing.
Karun Nair was trying to make an impact worth remembering after the 89-Run knocking against the Indians in Mumbai. The entire highest order turned into a carousel with uncertainty – no stability, no momentum. There was no one to anchor the shifts, no one accelerated meaningfully. More often than not, it ended with the upper edge to a point or by mistake Hoick into a deep birth midwicket.
Meanwhile, Gujarat Titani showed exactly what Delhi was missing. SHUBMAN GILL AND SAI SUDHARSAN created the most convenient opening partnership of the tournamentTogether, seven 50 or more stands, including the stand of the century. This kind of reliability and clarity at the top was missing in the DC campaign all season.
Axar patel and captain
Axar Patel has long been admired for its peaceful behavior. But in his first season as a full -time captain, this peace began to look like responsibility. In IPL calm itself is not enough – what you need is intention, bold decisions and tactical clarity.
So far, Axar has tried to put a clear strategic stamp into this team. Delhi’s first victory was more of an individual brilliance rather than any evident game plan. As the matches tightened and the margins have shrunk, its hesitation became more noticeable. Changes in delayed bowling changes, inflexible launch commands, doubtful field locations and the inability to seize key moments cost DC.
Infoped and stunned: Stubbs’ puzzle
Tristan Stubbs was shuffled through the DC lineup. Courtesy: pti
Tristan Stubbs was the most respected asset of Delhi Capitals – and probably their biggest incorrect step this season.
Back in IPL 2024 was Stubbs Revelation. He dominated death and accumulated 252 runs with a stunning strike of 262.5. As a consistent, fearless finish, he was a player who would concentrate most of the teams around.
But in 2025 he was pushed on the edges. He moved the order to No. 5, 6, even 7 – he often walked too late to have a real impact. In some games it did not happen at all. For the dough that struck more than 168 in SA20 early this year, the lack of opportunities is simply confused.
No one can explain why Axar patel of bats on No. 4, while Stubbs fights for gametime. In the team that lacked the middle order muscles, Stubbs could be a 3 or 4 place. Instead, he was a forgotten figure.
Selection of mixtures and distribution Rahul-Porel
They’re not just opening. The rotating door has expanded to the rest of the batting order. Kl Rahul and Porel have assembled 324 partnerships running on just seven shifts with four 50 or more stands – and yet, even once that DC management was used as opening this season.
Do not forget that even the dough did not look comfortable like an opener and none of the new combinations did not work. Looking back, the decision is as confusing as costly.
FAF, brought as a backup, ended up like a front line. With Harry Brook pulls outDC could turn to a dynamic young option, such as Dewald Brevis – a player with intent and awake. Instead, they leaned on experience and did not pay off.
Attack for one person: Starc Burden
Mitchell Starc took 14 goals out of 10 matches in IPL. Courtesy: pti
Mitchell Starc carried Delhi’s attack on his shoulders. 14 goals in 10 games on average 26.14. Five bags. Three-Za against Kr. Every time DC looked threatening the ball, it was an old man. And now DC has no Starc services for the last stage of the tournament.
The rest of the attack was a drop.
Mukesh Kumar has nine goals, but leaks run for almost 10 years. Chameera played only three matches. Mohit Sharma? Two goals in seven games. No DC revenues are needed.
Spin Trio Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and ViPraj Nigam disappeared in the second half of the tournament. They escape runs and do not get anything.
Since the second match against LSG – perhaps earlier – they feel that the pitchors have more focusing on controlling damage than the goals. This shift of thinking is stood.
They tried every possible combination in powerplay: Axar bowling three overs, sometimes none; No spinners at all; Chameera beginning; Starc Bowling Three Overs once, only one over another time; Even try Natarajan soon. Nothing worked. DC still interferes. They still can’t hit soon.
Axar still holds the best economy among spinners in PowerPlay (around 8.5). Mukesh leads between Pacers – also 8.5. That’s the best they have.
Kuldeep Yadav bowed like a man who tried to engage the dam with gum. No support. No help. Chameera, Mukesh and everyone else? Master class in average.
And don’t even start death.
Management in fault?
Why did DC wait two months to replace Harry Brook – and in this process he missed dynamic talents like Dewald Brevis? The compensation could be signed before the tournament started. Instead, they were pulling their legs, while other teams moved quickly. CSK set off Brevis and Ayush Mhatre, PBKS chose Mitchell Owen and RR brought Lhuan-Dre Pretorius. Delhli? They waited for DC to lose their momentum – and eventually brought Sediqullah Atal just to not play at all.
And for what? Imagine the finishing duo Stubbs and Brevis. That could change games. Instead, however, the management held on RS 6 crore, as if it were to accumulate cash.
No foresight. No structure. Just panic movements and lots of vibrations.
Fielding: Absolute disaster
Delhi Capitals fought with her field in IPL 2025.
Fielding? Nothing endless than a disaster. The catches were dropped as if the ball was stretched by poison. The routine stops turned into running and the overthrow was distributed as freebies at the festival. It wasn’t just sloppy – it was demoralizing.
And the body language told her own story. The heads down, the shoulders failed, the energy non -existent. In the middle of most of the first shifts, DC already looked like a team that checked out mentally.
Watching them in the field felt like watching a reel on a dick, who is a curator of someone with Vendett – the main package of how cricket doesn’t play.
Then came no-balls-rangingness of the mobility of the worst kind. Just as DC put some pressure, someone would cross and give the opposition a rescue rope and set out all the hard work in a fraction of a second.
They were not isolated mistakes. Were costly, repeated mistakes. It’s one thing to overcome. But Delhi’s vomiting came from the inside – a team that couldn’t stop burning over each other, play after the game.
Play -off scenarios: Tightrope Walk
Delhi Capitals are in a complex position in IPL 2025.
Somehow the capitals of Delhi are still alive in the play -off races – but hardly. The way forward is as narrow as it gets.
May 21 faces the Indians in Mumbai, followed by Kings Pandjab 24 May. They will both win and qualify – clean running will not care.
But the loss for Mumbai ends the story. It would move to me to 16 points, a total of it cannot be achieved. If DC defeated Mumbai, but slipped against the pandjab, they will remain in hope in favorable results elsewhere, with their fate, depending on how Mumbai and Lucknow will end.
There is no room for errors. One more trip and the season that began with real hope will collapse into another too well -known disappointment.
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Published:
Sabyasachi Chowdhury
Published on:
May 20, 2025
