KL Rahul refused, now it can become the champion player of Delhi Capitals- Report. IPL 2025: Not kl rahul but axar patel might captain deli capitals in next season
IPL 2025, Delhi Capitals: After playing a key role in India’s 2025 Champions Trophy win with his all-round performance, Akshar Patel is now likely to be made the new captain of Delhi Capitals for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season. The all-rounder decided to become the captain of Delhi Capitals in IPL 2024, when his predecessor Rishabh Pant was not allowed to play in an important match against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) due to over-rate crime.
Sources told ‘IANS’ on Tuesday, “Yes, Akshar Patel is likely to be made the captain of Delhi Capitals for IPL 2025. The franchise asked KL Rahul to make the team captain, but he wants to contribute to the team as a player in the upcoming tournament.” Akshar has been with DC since 2019 and was retained at a heavy price of Rs 18 crore before the IPL 2025 mega auction.
In his IPL career of 150 matches, Akshar has scored 1653 runs at a strike rate of 130.88, while taking 123 wickets from his left -arm spin bowling at an economy rate of 7.28. Akshar was the vice-captain of India during the 4–1 T20 series win over England at home ground this year, but his possible uplift as DC captain for IPL 2025 is going to be a major test of his leadership skills, especially when the franchise is still looking for his first championship victory.
Rahul was also a contender for leadership after being elected by the franchise for Rs 14 crore in the mega auction last year. The wicketkeeper-batsman had earlier played two seasons for the Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the IPL, out of which LSG entered the playoffs in 2022 and 2023 seasons under his leadership.
But according to sources, now he will play for DC without the role of leadership. DC’s first match of IPL 2025 will be against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam on 24 March. Before leaving for Visakhapatnam on March 17, the team is to have a three -day training camp in New Delhi this week.