Delhi Capitals head coach Hemang Badani said his side failed to produce consistent performances throughout IPL 2026 and paid the price for not using the key moments in crucial games. DC finished their 2026 IPL campaign in sixth place with seven wins and as many defeats as well.

“There were many games that I genuinely felt that could go either way. And we did not seize those moments,” Hemang Badani said at the post-match press conference on Sunday. “One being the Gujarat game, we lost the game by one run. The 264 is again something that you would fancy yourself to defend that score. Even with CSK, we dropped some catches.With SRH, we dropped some catches at a crucial time of the game.”

However, their batting unit did well in patches while the bowling attack lacked consistency throughout the season. DC bowlers managed only 64 wickets in 14 games, the joint-lowest tally among all teams as well.

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“Even with us batting, we did not many a times hold on to our wickets. We have lost too many in clusters, if you go back and see the stats,” Badani said. “And as a bowling side, you ideally want to pick a lot of wickets. If you see the stats with sides picking wickets, I think we are right at the bottom. I think a culmination of all of it is the reason why we are at 14 points and we could have been a lot better than that.”

Meanwhile, the absence of speedster Mitchell Starc, who had been their key bowler last year, for the major part of the season also hurt the Delhi Capitals team. However, Badani added that DC still had enough opportunities to qualify even without him.

“He is obviously a fabulous player. He is obviously somebody who has done exceedingly well in all formats and him not being available to us for the first nine games does hamper our progress. But I think on the whole, even without him, we had our moments. Even without him, we had our chances to qualify. Yes, Starc does make a huge difference. But I think as a side, I genuinely feel that if we had played those small, small, little, little margins and if we had seized those little margins, we would have still been alive in the tournament,” Hemang Badani concluded.