With their fourth loss in a row, an eight-wicket drubbing at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Capitals now find themselves in eighth place on the points table with as many points from 11 matches. With only a mathematical chance of qualifying for the playoffs, relying on other results and permutations to go their way, Delhi is staring at a deeply disappointing IPL campaign. Captain Axar Patel admitted that the team has a long journey ahead and said they would begin thinking about plans for next year, including what changes can be made. “For now, we’ll go back and think about the mistakes we made. After that, obviously there’s still a long journey ahead, and next year will come too. So we’ll think about what plans we can make for next year and what approach we should take. Based on that, we can also look at the players sitting on the bench and decide who can be given opportunities and what changes we can make,” Patel said in the post-match presentation. At the start of the IPL season, Delhi Capitals had three wins from their first five games, but the Axar Patel-led side has managed only one win in their last six matches. The team, which was bundled out for 75 runs against Royal Challengers Bengaluru last month, has since lost to Chennai Super Kings while batting first before Friday’s defeat and once again lost batting first against Kolkata Knight Riders. Skipper Axar Patel has so far scored only 44 runs in 11 matches while taking ten wickets at an average of 29.10. Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan had earlier spoken about Patel holding himself back with the ball, suggesting the all-rounder could bowl more in the powerplay. “Look, when the performances don’t happen, you always look towards the captain, right? Axar Patel, who has been leading the side this season, is in a similar boat. One thing I have felt is that sometimes while leading the side, he is holding himself back with the ball. He is the kind of bowler who can regularly bowl in the powerplay. I remember one game against RCB at the Chinnaswamy Stadium where he bowled slightly late. He could have come in earlier during the powerplay, but he didn’t. When that happens for an all-rounder leading the side, there are so many things to handle. He has to take care of his bowling, batting, and also get results as captain. There are too many things on his plate, and probably it is not working for him at the moment,” Pathan had said after the team’s loss against Chennai Super Kings earlier this week. On Friday, Delhi could only post 142 for 8 after batting first. Kolkata Knight Riders chased down the target in 14.2 overs, with Finn Allen smashing his maiden IPL hundred. Patel admitted that both batting and bowling let the team down. “I think the runs were definitely below par, and at the same time, the spinners made quite a few mistakes. Looking at the way the pitch behaved, I feel the spinners did make errors. But at the same time, if you notice, we lost five wickets in two or three overs, and I think that’s where the momentum slipped away from us. That’s probably something we need to think about because the same thing happened against CSK. We started well, and then suddenly wickets kept falling,” Patel said in the post-match presentation.
IPL 2026: Delhi Capitals skipper Axar Patel talks of next year and changes amid team’s disappointing season
