KL Rahul Declines Delhi Capitals Captaincy; This Player Likely to Lead the Team
New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): KL Rahul has turned down the offer to captain Delhi Capitals in IPL. The report said that the Delhi Capitals franchise had offered the captaincy to Rahul, which he refused to accept. After which Axar Patel is now likely to be made the new captain of Delhi Capitals (DC) for the 2025 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The all-rounder had decided to captain DC in IPL 2024 after his predecessor Rishabh Pant was not allowed to play in a crucial match against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) due to an over-rate offence. “Yes, Axar Patel is likely to be made the captain of Delhi Capitals for IPL 2025. The franchise had asked KL Rahul to captain the side but he wants to contribute to the team as a player in the upcoming tournament,” sources told PTI. 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 matches, Axar has scored 1653 runs at a strike rate of 130.88 while picking up 123 wickets with his left-arm spin bowling at an economy rate of 7.28. Axar was India's vice-captain during their 4-1 T20 series win over England at home this year, but his potential elevation as DC's captain for IPL 2025 is going to be a big test of his leadership skills, especially when the franchise is still looking for its maiden championship win.
Rahul was also a contender for the leadership role after he was picked by the franchise for Rs 14 crore in the mega auction last year. The wicketkeeper-batsman has previously played two seasons each for Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the IPL, with LSG entering the playoffs in the 2022 and 2023 seasons under his leadership. But according to sources, he will now play for DC without the leadership role. DC's first match of IPL 2025 will be against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on March 24 at the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam. The team is scheduled to have a three-day training camp in New Delhi this week, before leaving for Visakhapatnam on March 17.
