MI vs DC: Delhi Capitals captain’s pain spills out after IPL 2025 elimination

Delhi captain Faf du Plessis, standing in due to Axar Patel's illness, appeared quite dejected after their playoff elimination. He said that not reaching the top four in the IPL is unacceptable.

MI vs DC Match Highlights: The 63rd match of the Indian Premier League 2025 was played on Wednesday, 21 May, at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals. In this match, the hosts, Mumbai registered a resounding victory by 59 runs, qualifying for the playoffs. Winning the toss and electing to bat first, MI scored 180 runs for the loss of five wickets, thanks to Suryakumar Yadav's unbeaten half-century. DC's entire team was then bowled out for 121 runs in 18.2 overs. Delhi captain Faf du Plessis, standing in due to Axar Patel's illness, appeared quite dejected after their playoff elimination. He said that not reaching the top four in the IPL is unacceptable.

Disappointment over the last two overs

Faf du Plessis said after the match, "Today we were excellent on the field. The players fought brilliantly. Obviously, the pitch wasn't easy for batting. Perhaps it made the bowlers' job a little easier. But still, our batting line-up is very strong, and I think we were excellent, and then in the last two overs we lost it. They scored about 50 runs in the last two overs, which negated the hard work we put in during the 17-18 overs…"

‘Need for best performance against a strong team’

He said, "When you're playing against such a strong team, you need to perform your best at all times, and unfortunately, we were doing that until the 17-18th over, and then in the last two overs we were quite average. With the bat, you need a good start on such a surface, and we couldn't get going at all. However, Sameer Rizvi showed some promise with the bat; he has some talent."

Axar and Starc's absence felt

Faf du Plessis further added that a significant summary of our season is that in the last 6 or 7 matches, we have been inconsistent in batting or bowling. Not being in the top four in the IPL is unacceptable. Regarding the absence of Axar and Starc, he said that, especially on such a wicket, if you look at Mitchell Santner's bowling style, Axar is quite similar. Santner gave away about 10 runs in four overs. Starc is also a brilliant bowler.