With Delhi Capitals still searching for their first title in the Indian Premier League (IPL), head coach Hemang Badani believes the franchise has taken key steps to strengthen its squad ahead of the 2026 season, particularly by addressing long-standing concerns around the opening combination.
Badani said the franchise is focused on improving key areas of the squad ahead of the 2026 season, expressing confidence that the team is better prepared to end its long wait for the trophy.
“We don’t have to necessarily re-emphasise what’s happened or how the season has gone. Every player who has played for us last year or even through the season recognises that we could have finished differently,” Badani said during the pre-season press conference here on Monday.
“It’s not for us to keep driving that and drilling it into their heads, try and be a lot more objective about how we will get better, what is it that you can add value, how can you be better than what you are right now to make sure that we cross the line.
“That’s pretty much the conversation that we have. Yes, we have a review chat after the season is done as to what are the areas that we need to work on for the next year and accordingly plan and we are here again in 2026,” he added.
As part of the revamp, the franchise released Faf du Plessis and Jake Fraser-McGurk, and bolstered their squad with the addition of David Miller, Ben Duckett and Pathum Nissanka. Additionally, Nitish Rana was traded in from Rajasthan Royals, while the pace unit was strengthened by adding Lungi Ngidi and uncapped Jammu & Kashmir pacer Auqib Nabi.
As the tournament’s 19th edition begins on March 28, Badani said the team management has attempted to resolve their top-order struggles by bringing in fresh options such as Prithvi Shaw, Duckett and Nissanka during the auction.
DC struggled heavily in the batting powerplay during IPL 2025, posting the second-lowest run rate and batting average in the phase. Opening partnerships were a major concern as the side averaged just 21.8 runs for the first wicket, the lowest among all 10 teams, and managed only two fifty-plus stands across 14 innings.
The franchise tried seven different opening combinations during the season but failed to establish stability, prompting a rethink ahead of the new campaign with hopes that a settled pair at the top will replace the frequent changes that affected their performance last year.
“The answer to that is quite straightforward. The only way to address that is to find somebody who can do the job for us. It didn’t work for us last year The opening slot was a target area for us in the auction and we have pretty much done that,” Badani said.
Delhi Capitals will begin their IPL 2026 campaign against Lucknow Super Giants at the Ekana Cricket Stadium on April 1.
DC’s Director of Cricket Venugopal Rao echoed the sentiment, indicating that the team is prepared to experiment with new opening combinations. “Same here. We will try new openers.”
Badani further said the franchise had found stability in leadership with Axar Patel continuing as captain.
“I can’t really speak of what’s happened in the past, because I haven’t been a part of this environment. I’ve just been with them since last year. It was a conscious call that look at somebody who’s been with us, understands the people, fans, ground, environment, and the management.
“It was quite straightforward for us that Axar was the man. Hence, we’ve also again tried to stick with him. I thought we had a very good season. Maybe we didn’t finish off the way we would have liked, but I thought we had a great start.
“That also speaks of a young leader that you see in him. He’s been around for a long time. Also, a long-standing Delhi-ite, Delhi Capitals boy, no better person to lead the side than him. Here again, he’s here as the leader for us, come season two,” Badani added.