Experienced and high-on-confidence campaigner after Champions Trophy 2025 win, KL Rahul has declined captaincy of Delhi Capitals (DC) ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. Rahul who was DC's most expensive pick at the IPL mega auction at Rs 14 crore wants to contribute the franchise as a player instead of captain. DC are likely to give appointed spin-bowling all-rounder Axar Patel as their captain.
“Axar Patel is likely to be named as Delhi Capitals skipper for IPL 2025. The franchise had asked KL Rahul to lead the team, but he wishes to contribute as a player in the upcoming tournament," a source told IANS.
Last year, Rahul had said that he will not ask for captaincy from a franchise but it is crucial that he is provided with a good envrionment where he is loved, cared and respected.
"I would never go and ask someone for it. If you feel that my leadership skills are good enough, and you find something good in the way I play my cricket and in the way I handle myself, the way that I handle the team that I've captained in the last four to five years, and if you find it worthy, then of course I'm happy to do it," he told Star Sports
"But it's not something that is a make or break for me. I just want to be part of a team that has a good environment. You feel loved, cared for and respected in that environment and everyone on that franchise has one single goal to win the idea. there then that's a perfect fit," he added.
DC will begin their campaign against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) which will be led by their former captain Rishabh Pant. The clash will take place on March 24 in Visakhapatnam.
Rahul's IPL captaincy, Patel's record at DC
Rahul has captained at Punjab Kings (PBKS) and LSG. He has played 64 games as captain. His win percentae is 48.43. On the other hand, Patel is yet to make his IPL captaincy debut. Rahul led LSG to the playoffs in two consecutive seasons. In the third season, they failed to make it to the last four and was later released ahead of the mega auction.
Patel has played under the captaincy of Rahul at PBKS as well (then Kings XI Punjab). In 2019, he was roped in by DC. The southpaw has scored 967 runs from 62 innings at an average of 23.58, including three fifties. With the ball, the left-arm spinner is DC's third-highest wicket-taker of all-time. He has 62 scalps from 82 games at an average of 32.14. His economy rate is impressive at 7.06 runs per over.