Former Punjab Kings and LSG skipper KL Rahul has turned down the offer to lead Delhi Capitals in the IPL 2025 season.
Delhi Capitals are the only team left in the India Premier League (IPL) who are yet to announced their new captain for the upcoming IPL 2025 season. With the departure of Rishabh Pant to Lucknow Super Giants, DC have lost their former skipper while Australian David Warner, who was the captain in IPL 2024, wasn’t picked by the GMR Group and JSW co-owned franchise in the mega auction last year.
The co-owners bought former Punjab Kings and LSG skipper KL Rahul for Rs 14 crore and the Karnataka wicketkeeper-batter was the favourite to lead the side in IPL 2025. However, according to a report in IANS new agency, Rahul has turned down DC offer to captain the franchise.
The IPL 2020 runners-up are now set to announce all-rounder Axar Patel as the new captain for the upcoming season.
“Yes, Axar Patel is likely to be named as Delhi Capitals skipper for IPL 2025. The franchise had asked for KL Rahul to be the team’s captain, but he very much wishes to contribute for the side as a player in the upcoming tournament,” IANS quoted DC sources as saying.
Gujarat all-rounder Axar has been with DC since 2019, and was retained for a whopping Rs 18 crore ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction. In his IPL career of 150 games, Axar has scored 1,653 runs at a strike rate of 130.88 while picking 123 wickets with his left-arm spin bowling at an economy rate of 7.28.
The left-arm spinner had been India’s vice-captain during their 4-1 T20I series win over England at home earlier this year, but his possible elevation as DC’s captain for IPL 2025 is going to be a major test of his leadership skills.
It is believed DC owners were always in favour of Axar leading the side over Rishabh Pant, which is believed to be one of the reasons for the Delhi wicketkeeper leaving the side. Pant was bought for a record price of Rs 27 crore by RPSG group Sanjiv Goenka-owned Sanjiv Goenka.
Rahul was also a leadership contender after being roped in by the franchise for Rs 14 crore at the mega auction last year. The wicketkeeper-batter had previously led Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for two seasons each in the IPL, with the latter entering the playoffs in 2022 and 2023 season under his leadership.
The wicketkeeper was one of star performers in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 but regretted his dismissal in the 2023 ODI World Cup final against Australia at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
During a conversation on cricketer and teammate Ravichandran Ashwin’s YouTube channel, KL Rahul revealed his biggest regret in the tournament, being indecisive about whether to attack Mitchell Starc’s ‘reversing’ deliveries or not.
“The World Cup final against Australia, I was stuck in the moment, whether to take down Starc or just play him as it was reversing, bowling in tough angle – in that confusing I ended up nicking it – if I could have played till the end, it could have been 30+ runs & probably World Cup in our hands – that is what I regret,” Rahul said.
Delhi Capitals opening match of IPL 2025 will be against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam on March 24. The side is scheduled to have a short three-day training camp in New Delhi this week, before leaving for Visakhapatnam on March 17.
