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Delhi Capitals' (DC) top-order crisis continued as they suffered a batting collapse against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on May 5. Jake Fraser-McGurk is warming the benches after a poor start, Faf du Plessis' return after injury has been underwhelming whereas Abishek Porel has lacked consistency. Against SRH, Karun Nair was promoted as opener but he was dismissed for golden duck by SRH captain Pat Cummins. Seeing DC struggle, former Gujarat Titans (GT) pacer Varun Aaron wants Axar Patel-led side to promote KL Rahul as their opener claiming that it will solve all their problems.
"If you want stability in this batting line-up, send KL Rahul to open. He is going to solve all your problems. If they are going to play around with the openers, might as well put in the most experienced opener as an opener. If you put in Karun, I don't think it is fair on him because they have really moved him up and down the order quite a lot," Aaron said on ESPNCricinfo.
"If you are making radical changes a lot, put in the guys who are most suited to their role, and who have taken the pressure. We all know how much KL Rahul is moved up and down the order in other teams," the IPL 2022-winning member of GT added.
When Rahul opened for DC
Earlier, DC mentor Kevin Pietersen revealed that Rahul was asked to bat at no.4 after England's newly-appointed white-ball captain Harry Brook pulled out of IPL 2025. In the absence of an injured Du Plessis, Rahul opened the innings against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and scored 77 runs from 51 balls.
Rahul's numbers in IPL 2025
Rahul has often rescued DC after top-order's lapses. His best of the season so far came at no.4 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) when he scored an unbeaten 53-ball 93 in the successful run chase. So far, he is their leading run-scorer by a good margin. He has scored 381 runs from 10 innings at an average of 47.63, including three half-centuries.
How DC's top-order has fared this season?
Among DC's top-order Porel is just behind Rahul with 265 runs from 11 innings at an average of 26.50, including one fifty. Du Plessis missed five games and scored 168 runs from six innings at an average of 28. His strike rate is low at 128.24. Meanwhile, their star young opener could not replicate previous season's success as he scored 55 runs from six inings at an average of 9.17 and strike rate of 105.76. His allout attack strategy hasn't worked for him.
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