Delhi Capitals have been the perennial underachievers in the history of the Indian Premier League. In 13 editions of the IPL, they have reached the knock-out stages only five times. If that is not a question of concern, then here is another nightmare. They have only won one match in the playoffs in their entire history. If that is not horrendous, good luck in figuring out. That is the story of Delhi Capitals and their IPL hoodoo. Their jinx is so bad in the playoffs that the IPL Governing Council even changed the playoff structure, taking into account the time when Delhi Capitals topped the group in IPL 2009 but were eliminated after just one loss in the semi-final.
In fact, such is their luck that even when the playoff structure was changed, they could use it only once and that was in IPL 2012. Even then, they could not register a victory in two attempts. The poor run finally ended in IPL 2019 when they won a playoff game for the first time in their history and that was in IPL 2019 in the Eliminator against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Yet, they crashed down to earth with a big loss to Chennai Super Kings in the second qualifier. Here is the lowdown on Delhi Capitals’ poor show in IPL playoffs.
Beaten squarely
After starting consistently in IPL 2008, Delhi Daredevils reached the semi-final where they squared off against Rajasthan Royals. Led by Shane Warne, Rajasthan Royals notched up 192/9 thanks to brilliant knocks from Shane Watson and Yusuf Pathan. In response, Delhi Capitals were dismissed for a woeful 87 to lose by 105 runs, with Watson and Munaf Patel taking three wickets apiece.
In IPL 2009, they had topped the group and were favorites in their clash against an inconsistent Deccan Chargers side. Tillakaratne Dilshan made 65 to help Delhi Daredevils reach 153/4 but Adam Gilchrist’s brilliant 85, which included five fours in one over bowled by Dirk Nannes, helped Deccan Chargers win by six wickets.
In IPL 2012, Delhi Capitals were once again boosted to the top of the table with some fine performances. In the first qualifier, they lost to Kolkata Knight Riders but in the second qualifier, they had to bench the team’s leading wicket-taker Morne Morkel due to team composition issues and they bought in an uncapped player. Delhi Daredevils were blown away by Murali Vijay’s century as Chennai Super Kings romped home to a big win.
That was as good as it got for Delhi Daredevils as they struggled in the next six editions. In IPL 2019, they were renamed as Delhi Capitals and they reached the knockout stages for the first time in seven years. They broke their jinx in grand style when they defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by two wickets in the Eliminator to register their first-ever win in the playoffs. However, in Qualifier 2, they were once again defeated by Chennai Super Kings by six wickets.
With just one win in six IPL playoff games, the onus is on Delhi Capitals to change their fortunes as they aim for IPL glory for the first time.
