Leading all-rounder Axar Patel and senior keeper-batter KL Rahul are the two contenders for Delhi Capitals captaincy in the upcoming Indian Premier League season with the multi-skilled Gujarat man having his nose slightly ahead. It is understood that the franchise bigwigs will be announcing the name of their new captain in the next few days, having waited for the Champions Trophy to end. Delhi Capitals will have a short training-cum-simulation camp in Delhi before flying to Visakhapatnam for their first two games. Axar, Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, South Africa’s Tristan Stubbs, Australian Jake Fraser McGurk and Mitchell Starc are set to gather in Visakhapatnam on March 17 and 18.
With Rahul and wife Athiya Shetty expecting their first baby, the senior player could miss a game or two depending on the due date.
Into his seventh season with the Capitals, the 31-year-old Axar, who has played 150 IPL games, scored 1653 runs at a strike rate of nearly 131, and took 123 wickets at an economy rate of 7.28, looks a more likely candidate to lead the team than Rahul, who will be donning the Delhi blues for the first time.
However, Rahul has been an IPL captain for some years now and has led Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants in the past. LSG reached two play-offs during his time at the franchise although in one of those, he was injured for the better part of the season.
Rahul, who will turn 33 on April 18, has scored 4683 runs at a strike-rate of 134 plus, the runs coming mostly while batting in the top three. He has also struck four centuries across 132 games.
While his strike-rate in the power plays has often been criticised, Rahul has a phenomenal record between 2018 and 2024, amassing more than 500 runs in six out of seven seasons. The only season he scored less was in 2023 when he got 274 runs in nine games before getting injured. In four of those six seasons, he had surpassed 600 runs.
Axar’s captaincy at the IPL level is not yet proven while Rahul has led for some years.
The composition of Delhi Capitals squad is such that it is very difficult to have a foreigner as captain unless one is looking at Stubbs, who will probably be a sure-shot pick across conditions.
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