IPL 2025: 3 players who have the strongest chances of becoming the new captain of Delhi Capitals
Ahead of IPL 2025, the Delhi Capitals took a big & bold decision of moving away from Rishabh Pant and they released him from their squad ahead of the 2025 IPL Mega Auction. His departure from the team had left the captaincy post of the team vacant. Pant's services were secured by Sanjeev Goenka's Lucknow Super Giants in the Mega Auction for a record sum of 27 crore Indian Rupees.
Ever since the departure of the 27-year-old Indian wicketkeeper batter to the Lucknow Super Giants, there have been several discussions about who will become the new skipper of the franchise ahead of IPL 2025. Now former Indian cricketer turned commentator Aakash Chopra has named three big contenders to take over the leadership duties of the team.
All three players mentioned by the legendary commentator have the potential to guide DC to their first ever IPL Trophy winning campaign. It's worth noting that the franchise has not lifted the IPL trophy even once since the inception of the tournament.
These three players are strong contenders of becoming the next captain of the Delhi Capitals
Former Indian Cricketer Aakash Chopra believes that the trio of KL Rahul, Axar Patel & Faf Du Plessis have the highest chances of being named as the next skipper of the Delhi based team. He believes that given Axar's recent rise in stature in Indian Cricket, he can be considered as the front-runner in the race of becoming the new skipper.
DC retained the services of the spin-bowling all rounder for a massive sum of 16.50 crore Indian Rupees ahead of the Mega Auction, which goes on to show the amount of trust & faith the team management has in him. Then in the Mega Auction, they bought KL Rahul for a price tag of 14 crore Indian Rupees and South African legend Faf Du Plessis for 2 crore Indian Rupees in the auction held in Saudi Arabia's Jeddah.
This Indian player is considered as the front runner
47-year-old Aakash Chopra strongly believes that Axar Patel is considered as the front-runner to become the new leader of the franchise. He had a brilliant IPL 2024 season, where he dismissed 11 batters at a good economy rate of 7.65 and also scored a total of 235 runs in 12 innings at a strike rate of 131.28.
On his YouTube channel, the 47-year-old said, " I feel they (Delhi Capitals) have three options in KL Rahul, Faf Du Plessis & Axar Patel. They retained Axar ahead of the Mega Auction and he has been performing in a brilliant manner since the 2024 T20 World Cup. He was also appointed as the Vice-Captain of the Indian Team in the England T20 Series.
He further added, " He is also going to take part in the Champions Trophy 2025 and he has also been handed over a very important role in the ODI Team of India. He has matured as a Cricketer over the years, is in brilliant form, and understands the needs of the game very well. He always puts the team ahead of himself and therefore, he can be considered as the best option to lead the franchise ".
This factor of KL Rahul makes him a good choice to become the next captain of Delhi
The 47-year-old commentator also highlighted KL Rahul's captaincy experience as a strong factor in his quest of becoming the next leader of DC. He said, "Another player who has a strong chance of becoming the next skipper of the Delhi Capitals (DC) is KL Rahul. I feel they grabbed him in the auction for a really good price and his experience as a captain is what makes him a good choice.
He has led the Punjab Kings (PBKS) , Team India and the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for three years. He has also helped Lucknow to qualify for the playoffs twice in a row. So he can be a good choice for the captaincy position."
Faf Du Plessis is another choice of captaincy
The 47-year-old suggested that former RCB captain Faf Du Plessis can be another option of leading Delhi, but felt that Axar can prove to be the most suitable option for the franchise. " I feel it's going to be a close race between all three players. One got retained ahead of the Mega Auction while the other two have been bought in the auction. So either one of the two Indians can become the new captain or if the Delhi Management want to think in a different way, then the option of going ahead with Faf Du Plessis is also available," he said.
IPL 2025: Full squad of the Delhi Capitals
Axar Patel, Faf Du Plessis, Kuldeep Yadav, KL Rahul, Abhishek Porel, Tristan Stubbs, Harry Brook, Mitchell Starc, T Natarajan, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sameer Rizvi, Karun Nair, Mohit Sharma, Ashutosh Sharma, Darshan Nalkande, Mukesh Kumar, Dushmantha Chameera, Vipraj Nigam, Ajay Mandal, Donovan Ferreira, Tripurana Vijay, Manwant Kumar & Madhav Tiwari.
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