Hemang Badani backs struggling Kuldeep Yadav to regain peak form in IPL 2026

At the Arun Jaitley Stadium, DC's spinners failed to match the control offered by CSK spinners Akeal Hosein and Noor Ahmad, who combined for 3‑41. While DC skipper Axar Patel managed 1‑25 in four overs, including bowling two overs in power-play, Kuldeep endured another difficult night by leaking 34 runs in three overs without taking a wicket.

"We would ideally want Kuldeep to be better than this. But we will rally around him. He's been somebody who's been a part of this side for many, many years and has done well. I think he can turn this around," said Badani in the post-match press conference.

Once regarded as Delhi's banker in the middle overs, Kuldeep hasn't gained his edge this season. In 30 overs of IPL 2026, Kuldeep has picked only seven wickets at an economy rate of 10.36 and has conceded 24 sixes - the most by any spinner in the competition.

On Tuesday, he and left-arm pacer T Natarajan together gave away 73 runs in 5.3 overs despite a surface offering grip and turn, as Sanju Samson duly cashed on them to hit an unbeaten 87.

"I think it's more the case of just about somebody's striking form. He hasn't struck peak form yet. He hasn't bowled at the speeds that he would normally bowl. I think it's a question of time.

"I mean, we have the faith in him. More than anything else, it's crunch time for us. It's quite simple for us. 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," added Badani.

Though Axar was at his economical best with the ball on Tuesday, his batting returns have nosedived further. With the bat, Axar has managed just 33 runs - 26 of them came against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. His runs have come at a strike rate of 89.18 - a steep drop from last year when he was DC's fourth‑highest scorer with 263 runs at a strike rate of 157.

His dismissal for just two on Tuesday was DC's third wicket to fall from overs 8-11 and led to DC being 69/5 in 11 overs. Once a reliable middle‑order presence, Axar's decline with the bat has left a big void in DC's batting returns at a time when his side needs stability.

"With Axar, I think it's again a question of somebody who's (trying to find form). There are people who have played cricket at the highest level - like he's a double World Cup winner. You work with them and you give them the faith. They have the faith in themselves in the sense that they have played the game.

"They have figured out the ways and means of going through the grind, struggles and how you come back. They've done it all and I have the faith that he'll come good. He's had a wonderful time with the ball and those figures, I would take it on any given day," added Badani.

Though DC found some spark in their innings via a 65-run stand between Tristan Stubbs (38) and Sameer Rizvi (40 not out), it wasn't enough for them to stop a composed Samson from taking them home. "Fair to say that (CSK batters applied themselves better than DC batters). But I think in hindsight, it's a lot easier for a side to feel 20 overs and then understand what the surface would be when they bat second and that pretty much what happened.

"Well, it's for them to decide in the middle at that point in time. As in, how do we progress, and take the game forward. They are the ones batting in the middle.

They probably would have assessed it and felt that at this point, we want to be a bit more cautious and not lose a couple more wickets because we were already five down. Maybe take the game slightly deeper and that would have been the mindset."

The nature of pitches has been of differing nature and something DC haven't been able to figure out. Against PBKS, pitch number six was an absolute road in the afternoon. Pitch number five for the game against RCB blew them away, while pitch number four for the clash against CSK was sticky, had low bounce and enough for spinners to make merry.

"There's no local side that gets benefit out of the surfaces. You play what is presented to you. Yes, it's been a bit of an up-and-down curve for us to understand what are we going to get at Delhi, which is our home. One game was a 265 chase, another one was 75 all out.

"Again, this was a surface which spun, but there's little control that any side has on surfaces. It's not about us and the whole comp itself is quite neutral that way. Every side has to find a way to win those games. Ideally, you want to have some consistency.

"It's more the case of if we had put on about 20 more odd runs, Sanju would not have been able to pace the innings the way he did. He literally knew what he had to do. He just said, let me see off the best bowlers. The best bowlers were probably Ngidi and Axar on a surface like this and that's pretty much what he did.

"So he was smart. But one can do that is purely because when he's seen 20 overs behind the stumps, and saw the surface and the balls closest as a wicketkeeper. Let's not forget, he's a class player. Sanju has been a class player for a while. There's a reason he's in the national side. There's a reason he's won the Man in the Series at the World Cup," concluded Badani.

- IANS