Badani Will 'Rally Around' Kuldeep — But 24 Sixes and 3% Don't Rally Back

There's a genre of post-match press conference that every cricket fan instinctively recognises: the coach who knows the season is over but can't say it out loud. Hemang Badani delivered a masterclass in that genre after Delhi Capitals were dismantled by CSK on May 5 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium — their own ground, in front of their own crowd, by eight wickets with 15 balls to spare.

Instead of reckoning with the wreckage, Badani did what coaches do when the maths has turned terminal: he backed his struggling stars. Publicly, loudly, and with the kind of conviction that only makes sense if you choose not to look at the stats.

Here's the problem with rallying around Kuldeep Yadav: batters have been rallying around him all season — they just happen to be on the other team. In ten matches, Kuldeep has conceded 24 sixes. That's the most by any spinner in IPL 2026. Not just among wrist-spinners. Not just among Indians. Any spinner, full stop.

His economy rate of 10.36 across 30 overs is a career aberration for a bowler who typically operates around eight. Seven wickets at that cost isn't a rough patch — it's a structural failure. Against CSK, Samson took him for three sixes and a four in nine balls, scoring 25 off those deliveries alone. Kuldeep leaked 34 runs in just three overs without a single wicket to show for it.

Badani's explanation was telling. Not that Kuldeep is bowling badly, exactly, but that he isn't bowling at the speeds he normally does. Pace down, revolutions down, threat down — but faith, apparently, remains up.

If Kuldeep is the bowler nobody wants to bowl to, Axar Patel is the captain nobody wants to bat after. Just 33 runs in the entire tournament at a strike rate of 89.18. For context, last season Axar was DC's fourth-highest run-scorer with 263 runs at a strike rate of 157. The decline isn't a dip — it's a cliff.

Badani leaned hard on Axar's CV to justify the faith. Double World Cup winner. Has figured out ways to come through the grind. The words carried weight — but Axar's bat, at 33 runs in ten matches, carries nothing at all.

Badani framed DC's position with admirable clarity: "It's more like a knockout tournament for us right now. We have to win 4 in 4 games and we still have a chance to qualify." He's technically correct. Delhi's 8 points from 10 matches means four straight wins would take them to 16 — a total that could, in theory, sneak into the top four.

But there's a number Badani didn't mention: minus 0.949. That's DC's net run rate, battered by defeats like the one CSK just delivered. Even if DC win four straight, they'd likely need to do so by large margins to overcome NRR tiebreakers against teams sitting above them. Their playoff probability, according to multiple models, sits at approximately 3%.

Three percent isn't a chance. It's a rounding error with a pulse.

The uncomfortable truth beneath Badani's press conference is the absence of alternatives. You rally around Kuldeep because who replaces him? You keep faith in Axar because he's the captain. You describe the next four games as a knockout tournament because calling it what it actually is — a slow goodbye — isn't something you say in front of cameras.

Badani is doing the honourable thing: backing his players publicly, refusing to throw anyone under the bus, and presenting a united front in the dressing room. These are the right instincts for a coach. But cricket doesn't run on instincts — it runs on runs and wickets, and right now DC's two most important Indian players are failing to provide either.

The rally cry is loud. The 3% is louder.