Axar Patel, who played a key role in India’s Champions Trophy win in 2025 with his all-round performance, is now expected to be the new captain of Delhi Capitals (DC) for the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) season.
Axar had previously stepped in as DC’s skipper in IPL 2024 when Rishabh Pant was suspended for one match due to an over-rate violation. According to sources, the franchise initially considered KL Rahul for the leadership role, but he preferred to focus on playing without captaincy responsibilities.
Axar has been with Delhi Capitals since 2019 and was retained for ₹18 crore ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction. In his IPL career of 150 matches, he has scored 1,653 runs at a strike rate of 130.88 and taken 123 wickets with an economy rate of 7.28.
Having served as India’s vice-captain in their recent 4-1 T20I series victory against England, Axar’s potential captaincy in IPL 2025 will be a major test of his leadership. Delhi Capitals, still in search of their first IPL title, will hope his experience can lead them to success.
KL Rahul, a former captain of Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants, was also considered for the role. However, he will now play solely as a batsman after being signed for ₹14 crore in the 2024 mega auction.
DC will kick off their IPL 2025 campaign against Lucknow Super Giants on March 24 at the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam. Before that, the team will have a short three-day training camp in New Delhi, starting this week, before heading to Visakhapatnam on March 17.
