Indian T20I vice-captain Axar Patel will once again be seen leading the Delhi Capitals in the IPL 2026, while KL Rahul’s presence in the side would put massive pressure on his captaincy role.
The Delhi Capitals started their campaign in IPL 2025 in a dominating fashion as they went on to chase one of the highest totals in their history of the IPL. After having made a promising start with consecutive victories, the Capitals failed to qualify for the knockout due to consecutive losses towards the back end.
The Delhi Capitals are now among the two franchises that have not won a single IPL title in the history of the competition. The last time they played in an IPL final was back in 2020 under the fond leadership of Shreyas Iyer and Ricky Ponting.
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Axar Patel’s record as Delhi Capitals captain
The Delhi Capitals made some groundbreaking changes to their squad and also swapped their entire coaching staff. Axar was appointed as the skipper as they revamped their entire squad with new players.
After having led the Delhi Capitals to four consecutive wins, Axar Patel went on to become the first-ever player to have led DC to four consecutive IPL wins, breaking the former record of Indian legend Virender Sehwag, who had led them to three wins previously.
Having won five of their first six games in IPL 2025, Delhi Capitals made the best start they could; however, in the remainder of the eight games in the season, the Axar Patel-led side lost on 5 occasions and could manage just one more victory.
With 7 wins and 15 points for the Capitals, Axar Patel could not lead them to their first-ever title and rather fell short of making it to the knockouts by just one point. Mumbai Indians qualified with 16 points instead. In 14 matches, Axar won 7 matches and lost six, while only one game was washed out by rain.
KL Rahul’s presence puts pressure on Axar Patel
Delhi Capitals have veteran Indian batter KL Rahul in the side, and his presence applies acute pressure on Axar Patel, the all-rounder spinner who has been captaining the Delhi Capitals in IPL 2025.
KL Rahul has been a longtime leader in the T20 format and especially the IPL. He has led the Punjab Kings between 2020 and 2021, after he took over the captaincy from former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.
He then played for the Lucknow Super Giants and captained them for three seasons between 2022 and 2024. Captaining the Punjab Kings, he played in 27 matches and won 12 while losing 13. His win percentage remained a minimum of 44.44%.
On the other hand, he captained LSG in 37 IPL matches and managed to win 20 games while losing 17 games. With a win percentage of 54.05%, Rahul led them to two playoffs in 2022 and 2023. However, after they missed out in 2024, he moved to the Delhi Capitals for a whopping net worth of INR 14 crore in 2025.
KL Rahul set to replace Axar Patel as Delhi Capitals Captain?
Though KL Rahul is a very experienced player and would be monumental for Delhi Capitals in the upcoming IPL season, the captaincy best suits the veteran Indian all-rounder, Axar Patel. Patel might be new in the role; however, his contributions to the format for India and the Capitals have been extraordinary.
The all-rounder often promises a good batting form if he is promoted in the batting order, and with a captaincy role, he can often make such decisions for himself. As the skipper, Axar often brings himself early on to defend quick scoring in the powerplay.
Moreover, he manages the spin attack and rotates his bowlers skillfully. KL Rahul might be a good captain, but Axar is well aware of the conditions of play in the North Indian tracks, where the Capitals play the majority of their games.
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