IPL 2025: Toss-up between Axar and Rahul for Delhi Capitals` captaincy

In form all-rounder Axar Patel and star wicketkeeper-batsman KL Rahul are the leading contenders for Delhi Capitals` captaincy in the upcoming IPL 2025.

With the IPL 2025 just around the corner, Delhi Capitals are expected to make the announcement of their captain in a few weeks.

Delhi Capitals will begin their IPL 2025 with their first two matches being played in Visakhapatnam.

Axar, Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, South Africa`s Tristan Stubbs, Australian Jake Fraser McGurk and Mitchell Starc are set to gather in Visakhapatnam on March 17 and 18.

With KL Rahul and his wife Athiya Shetty expecting their first child, there are speculations of the veteran`s possible absence for the first two IPL 2025 matches.

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Into his seventh season with the Capitals, the 31-year-old Axar, who has played 150 IPL games, scored 1653 runs at a strike rate of nearly 131, and took 123 wickets at an economy rate of 7.28, looks a more likely candidate to lead the team than Rahul, who will be donning the Delhi blues for the first time.

However, Rahul has been an IPL captain for some years now and has led Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants in the past. LSG reached two play-offs during his time at the franchise, although in one of those, he was injured for the better part of the season.

KL Rahul, who will turn 33 on April 18, has scored 4683 runs at a strike-rate of 134 plus, the runs coming mostly while batting in the top three. He has also struck four centuries across 132 games.

While his strike-rate in the power plays has often been criticised, Rahul has a phenomenal record between 2018 and 2024, amassing more than 500 runs in six out of seven seasons. The only season he scored less was in 2023 when he got 274 runs in nine games before getting injured. In four of those six seasons, he had surpassed 600 runs.

Axar Patel`s captaincy at the IPL level is not yet proven while Rahul has led for some years.

The composition of Delhi Capitals squad is such that it is very difficult to have a foreigner as captain unless one is looking at Stubbs, who will probably be a sure-shot pick across conditions.

(With PTI Inputs)