Follow UsIt was a tale of contrasting campaigns as Delhi Capitals (DC) and Mumbai Indians (MI) collided in what could be called a virtual qualifier to secure the final place in the playoffs with the other three spots already booked by Gujarat Titans (GT), Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).
While MI had won only two of their first six games in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, DC had five out of six wins and were racing towards a playoff berth. They, in fact, could have six out of six and MI could have had only one out of their six, if it was not for the Capitals to mess up as easy a chase as getting 29 off 16 balls or being 128/1 while chasing 206 to win.
Had Delhi won that game at home, it would not have come down to this game being a winner takes it all.
It was chances like these that were rued by DC head coach Hemang Badani in the post-match press conference after his team’s 59-run loss at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, that led to their ouster from a chance to win the coveted IPL trophy for the first time ever.
Talking about where DC went wrong, Badani said, “For me, it’s a marathon. I mean we had a great sprint, a great start. If my memory serves me right, we won five out of our first six games. It is a great place to be.
“But since then we have struggled to find that next win and to some extent there were games, I felt we could have won, but we just didn’t finish well. For instance Mumbai at Delhi, where Karun Nair got 90 odd (he got 89), we were cantering along.
“Even against KKR, we had to get 60-odd in six overs with seven wickets in hand, and we lost (they had to get 69 off the last seven overs). Ideally we should have won those games if we were to make the playoffs,” he added.