It is going from bad to worse for the Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season. The Axar Patel-led side suffered yet another defeat on Tuesday, losing against the five-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. The biggest reason for the loss was the batting performance, where Delhi managed just 155/7 in 20 overs after deciding to bat first. The hosts lost their first five wickets with just 69 runs on the board, and a total of more than 150 was achieved due to the 65-run stand between Tristan Stubbs and Sameer Rizvi for the sixth wicket.
The total wasn’t enough, but Sanju Samson’s masterclass ensured CSK got over the line to keep alive their chances of making it to the playoffs. After the defeat, Axar was quite blunt in his assessment, saying the batting performance was the biggest reason behind the defeat.
“The way the wicket was behaving in the first innings, I thought 155 was a good score. We are playing with eight batters, so I feel we were 10-15 runs short. I feel the wicket got slightly better in the second innings, but it was just a case of us not having any set batter,” said Axar.
“When set batters play, you feel there is nothing much happening in the wicket. But I still think there was something in it for the bowlers. For new batters, it wasn’t easy as the length ball was holding up a bit. One can see how Samson finished the game, hence it was a case of the set batters,” he added.
‘Missed Kuldeep’
On a pitch where CSK spinners Noor Ahmad and Akeal Hosein got plenty of purchase, Kuldeep Yadav failed to have any sort of impact, leaking 34 runs in three overs and failing to take a single wicket. Hence, it was not surprising to see Axar throwing Kuldeep under the bus.
“The only positive was the way we batted in the end after losing five wickets. We got a good finish. In the bowling department, I missed my partner Kuldeep Yadav,” said Axar.
Delhi are still in the race to qualify for the playoffs, but the franchise now needs to win all of its remaining matches to have any chance. The franchise is currently seventh in the points table with just 8 points in 10 matches.
“Obviously, we don’t have any room for mistakes. We need to be clear in our mindset. We need to win the remaining four matches,” said Axar.
The Delhi Capitals will next take on the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Friday, May 8.
