Delhi Capitals (ANI Photo)
Delhi Capitals (DC) have struggled throughout IPL 2026 at their home venue Arun Jaitley Stadium, but ended their home campaign on a winning note, losing Rajasthan Royals Sunday to keep their IPL 2026 playoff chances alive, albeit slim. However, DC’s disappointing home record that season (five losses and two wins) was a major talking point during the post-match press conference, and head coach Hemang Badani There were some blunt words. After the win against RR, DC head coach Hemang Badani said, “We have stopped discussing the surface,” and as far as he was concerned, “we play this venue as an away venue.” For Badani, the difference in the team’s performance at home and away has been stark. “If you’re able to split the season into what’s happened at home and what’s happened at home, we’ve got four wins in six games, and we’ve basically struggled at home,” Badani noted during the post-match press conference. Five defeats and just two wins at home this season justifies Badani’s frustration. He once chased his 264 with seven balls to spare, and in the very next match, collapsed for 75. With just two wins, it reflects a staggering 71.4 per cent loss at home – the second-worst among the 10 teams in this IPL edition.
Here is the list of IPL 2026 home records of all teams:
| The team | Home stadium | Matches | wins | Disadvantages | No result | Win percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RCB | M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru; Shaheed Vir Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium, Raipur | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 85.70% |
| CSK | MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 66.70% |
| SRH | Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 66.70% |
| GT | Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 66.70% |
| RR | Barspara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati; Sawai Man Singh Stadium, Jaipur | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 50.00% |
| KKR | Eden Gardens, Kolkata | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 50.00% |
| PBKS | Maharaja Yadavendra Singh PCA Stadium, New Chandigarh; HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 42.90% |
| M.I | Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 33.30% |
| DC | Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 28.60% |
| LSG | Ekna Stadium, Lucknow | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 16.70% |
“You’ll usually see the grass available on the surface, the texture of the surface, the color of the surface. But every time we’ve been here, we’ve found something very different. So it is what it is. We accept it and move on.” Badani explained that the three pitches used in Delhi for matches were inconsistent and were not used more than once. “One match we got out for 60 (75), another for 150, another for 260. So we don’t know how to play on pitch No. 4, No. 5, or No. 6. We’ve played on three surfaces and if you look at the numbers, they’re all over the place. Its preparation is difficult for you. Reflecting on Sunday’s encounter, which kept them alive in the race for the playoffs, Badani highlighted how the surface played an important role in the complexion of the match. “Talking about that game, I think if you look at his innings, he scored 160 for 2. [after 14 overs] And then at the end they hardly scored — I think they scored about 33 runs in the last six and we picked it up. [six more] wickets,” said Badani. “The same thing happened with us where we slowed down a little bit but we were careful because we had A [target] available to us. They had to set a goal and we just wanted to make the game because the ball was starting to reverse. The ball had little grip on the surface. [too]. Batting was not easy after the ball became old. [we decided] taking the game deeper; Go hard at the top but take the game deep at the end.” This question has been asked before, and the DC head coach was asked about it again: What should be done? BCCI Allow IPL teams to control their pitches to give them home advantage? Even cricket expert Sanjay Manjrikar said that IPL teams should give their opinion on how the pitch might behave during the season during a Sportsstar podcast. For a team fighting to stay in the play-off race, an unexpected 22-yarder in Delhi proved to be the ultimate challenge for Badani’s men.
