Being a fan of Delhi Capitals (DC) takes a lot out of you. You see other franchises take trophy after trophy, and yet your team, despite having renowned stars, fail to harness crunch moments when needed. The Delhi Capitals (DC) still remain only one of the three Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises to have never won a silverware since its inception. The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and the Punjab Kings (PBKS), of course being the other two.
But have DC’s Women’s Premier League (WPL) counterparts already surpassed their team’s IPL legacy? Have the women’s team, led by Meg Lanning, been more successful than the men’s side in just a span of three years? Apparently, it looks like it, especially after another table-topping finish by the franchise in the WPL 2025.
Delhi Capitals juggernaut in WPL
Three WPL seasons, three final appearances! Yes, the Capitals are due to win a trophy in the women’s division too, but they have been quite phenomenal. A well-oiled team with consistent decisions have led them to quite successful runs in the tournament. They won 6 out of 8 games in the first season before replicating the exact same form in the second campaign. They were the league leaders in both the campaigns. Remarkably, in the ongoing WPL 2025, DC have once again attained the top ranking. With RCB beating the Mumbai Indians in the last league match, DC have qualified for the WPL final for the third consecutive time.
The Delhi management did themselves a huge favour at the WPL 2023 auction when they put up probably the best opening duo in women’s franchise cricket’s history. The calmness of Meg Lanning has always complemented the exuberance and extra aggression of Shafali Verma. They remain the only duo with more than 1000 runs in partnerships in WPL history. The two, alongside some high-quality middle-order, have paved the way for their success.
Not to mention the disposal of Marizzane Kapp and Annabel Sutherland along with Indian talents in Shikha Pandey and Titas Sadhu. DC have seen heartbreaking moments, losing both the WPL 2023 and WPL 2024 finals. They would hope that WPL 2025 is their season. The winner of the Mumbai Indians women vs Gujarat Giants (GG) Eliminator clash will face them in the summit clash on March 15, Saturday.
DC & their unwanted story in IPL
Contrastingly, the Delhi franchise has always fallen short in the cash-rich IPL. This is despite the fact that they have had a history of having some of the world’s best players. You name it, they played for the franchise at least once in an era. Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag were the two pioneers of some early league stage success for the franchise. The likes of Andre Russell, AB de Villiers, Zaheer Khan, Kevin Pietersen, David Warner have all put on the red and blue but failed to inspire the team to any sort of material success.
As compared to their three WPL table-top finishes, the men’s team have also come out as league leaders thrice. The difference, however, is only that the Delhi Capitals’s men’s side has taken a total of 17 seasons to reach that mark. Their only IPL final appearance came under the leadership of Shreyas Iyer and the coaching of Ricky Ponting in 2020. It was a season full of promises and superb execution until the last hurdle against the Mumbai Indians.
What has set the DC women’s side aside from the men’s is their consistent run with players and solidarity in the team. Gladly for the DC fans now, IPL 2025 invoke a fresh air. The Capitals have one of the best squads in the upcoming season. With a brand new coaching setup and some ownership tweaks, the franchise needs to make a set plan and take some inspiration from the ladies to streamline the team towards a better future.
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