IPL 2025: KL Rahul Declines Captaincy, Axar Patel To Take Over The Role In DC

The most thrilling T20 League IPL 2025 is about to begin on 22nd March in Eden Garderns between KKR and RCB. Delhi Capitals will play their first match on 24th March against Lucknow Super Giants in Dr. YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam. Kl Rahul declined the call to be the captain for DC after winning the title of Champions Trophy 2025. Axar Patel is all set to lead the team for this season with a new squad.

DC’s Expectations for KL Rahul

Delhi Capitals (DC) bid for KL was their most expensive this auction, he has experience of 64 matches as captain and was expected to do the same here as well.

Though he declined the role of leadership and now left-arm spin all-rounder Axar Patel is all set to lead the team for this season. Axar has been a part of DC for a long time and looks in good form as his performance in the Champions Trophy went well.

“Axar Patel is likely to be named as Delhi Capitals skipper for IPL 2025. The franchise had asked KL Rahul to lead the team, but he wishes to contribute as a player in the upcoming tournament,” a source told IANS.

Kl Rahul wants to contribute to the team as a fellow teammate and elucidated:

 “I would never go and ask someone for it. If you feel that my leadership skills are good enough, and you find something good in the way I play my cricket and in the way I handle myself, the way that I handle the team that I’ve captained in the last four to five years, and if you find it worthy, then of course I’m happy to do it,” he told Star Sports

“But it’s not something that is a make or break for me. I just want to be part of a team that has a good environment. You feel loved, cared for and respected in that environment and everyone on that franchise has one single goal to win the idea. there then that’s a perfect fit,” he added. 

KL Rahul’s captaincy record in IPL and Patel’s performance for DC

Rahul has led Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in 64 games with a success rate of 48.43%. He took LSG to the playoffs for two seasons in a row but failed to do so in the third season when they missed out on the top four and Rahul was released ahead of the mega auction.

Patel has played under Rahul’s leadership at PBKS (previously Kings XI Punjab) and then moved to Delhi Capitals (DC) in 2019. The left-handed batsman has accumulated 967 runs in 62 innings, with an average of 23.58 and three half-centuries. As a bowler, Patel is DC’s third-leading wicket-taker with 62 wickets in 82 matches, averaging 32.14. He also possesses a good economy rate of 7.06 runs per over.

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