IPL 2025: Axar Patel Likely to be Appointed as New Delhi Capitals Skipper
After playing a pivotal role in India’s 2025 Champions Trophy triumph with his all-round skills, Axar Patel is now likely to be appointed as the new Delhi Capitals (DC) skipper for the 2025 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
New Delhi: After playing a pivotal role in India’s 2025 Champions Trophy triumph with his all-round skills, Axar Patel is now likely to be appointed as the new Delhi Capitals (DC) skipper for the 2025 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
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The all-rounder had previously stepped in as DC’s captain during IPL 2024 when Rishabh Pant was unavailable for a crucial game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) due to an over-rate offence.
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Franchise Prefers Axar Over KL Rahul
“Yes, Axar Patel is likely to be named as Delhi Capitals skipper for IPL 2025. The franchise had asked for KL Rahul to be the team’s captain, but he very much wishes to contribute for the side as a player in the upcoming tournament,” sources told IANS on Tuesday.
Axar has been with DC since 2019 and was retained for a whopping Rs 18 crore ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction. In his IPL career spanning 150 games, Axar has scored 1653 runs at a strike rate of 130.88 while picking up 123 wickets with his left-arm spin at an economy rate of 7.28.
A Major Leadership Test for Axar
Axar, who was India’s vice-captain during their 4-1 T20I series win over England earlier this year, will now face a major test as DC’s captain. The franchise is still in pursuit of its first-ever championship title.
Rahul was also a leadership contender after being acquired by DC for Rs 14 crore at the mega auction last year. Having previously led Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for two seasons each, he guided LSG to the playoffs in 2022 and 2023. However, sources confirm that Rahul will now feature for DC solely as a player.
DC’s IPL 2025 Campaign Begins on March 24
DC will kick off their IPL 2025 season against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam on March 24. Before that, the team is set to conduct a short three-day training camp in New Delhi this week before departing for Visakhapatnam on March 17.
