Delhi Capitals (DC) will enter the 2025 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) with a new captain, but who will it be? Former India opener Aakash Chopra weighed in on the options the franchise has.
Talking about it on his YouTube channel, Chopra said there are three contenders for the role in the new squad that DC put together at the mega auction last November after deciding to not retain Rishabh Pant, who has moved to Lucknow Super Giants.
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Chopra named Axar Patel, KL Rahul and Faf du Plessis as the three players who can lead Delhi in the IPL this year, beginning in March.
“I feel Delhi have three options. They have Axar Patel and KL Rahul, and they have Faf du Plessis as well. They retained Axar Patel. Bapu’s stature is growing. He has been outstanding of late. He is the Indian T20I team’s vice-captain,” Chopra said.
The Delhi franchise demonstrated their confidence in Axar by retaining him for Rs 16.50 crore before the mega auction. Subsequently, they acquired Rahul for Rs 14 crore and Faf du Plessis for Rs 2 crore during the auction in Jeddah.
In IPL 2024, Axar delivered strong performances, claiming 11 wickets with an economy rate of 7.65 and scoring 235 runs at a strike rate of 131.28 across 12 innings.
“He will play the Champions Trophy as well and has been given a very important role in the Indian ODI team. He is mature. He is brilliant. He understands the pulse of the game. He puts the team ahead of himself. So he could be a great choice.”
Chopra added that KL Rahul’s experience as captain previously, leading Lucknow and Punjab before moving to DC, will work in his favour.
“I feel they got him (Rahul) cheap. It was a steal. He has got some captaincy credentials. He has captained India, the Punjab Kings and the Lucknow Super Giants for three years, and they qualified (for the playoffs) for two years as well. So he could be the captain,” said Chopra.
He said South Africa veteran du Plessis remains in the mix for the leadership role, but is third in the pecking order.
“I think it’s going to be a close race. One (Axar) has been retained and the other (Rahul) has been bought. So one between the two, or else if they want to think absolutely left-field, then Faf du Plessis, who is not getting old at all. However, I have a feeling that it could be Axar,” he concluded.
