IPL 2025: 3 players who can captain Delhi Capitals

The Delhi Capitals went into the mega auction with an aim to rebuild their side and find a captain, as they didn’t retain Rishabh Pant for the 2025 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

So, they went hard for KL Rahul and acquired his services for 14 Crore, which, considering the price paid for Pant (27 Crore), was a steal. They also managed to buy Faf du Plessis at his base price of 2 Crore in the auction and that has given them a very solid batter who has a lot of leadership experience behind him at all levels of the game.  

Meanwhile, they retained Axar Patel, Tristan Stubbs, Kuldeep Yadav, and Abhishek Porel. 

The three most probable captaincy candidates for the Capitals in IPL 2025, which will begin tentatively from March 14 are as follows: 

Faf du Plessis 

Faf is an experienced Proteas and IPL batter, with 4571 runs in 145 games at an average of 35.99 and a strike rate of 136.4. 

He has experience leading teams such as RCB, CSK, South Africa, and other teams in various franchise leagues worldwide, including the SA20. 

With such a batter in their mix, the Capitals would be losing if they didn’t include him in the leadership group.

KL Rahul

Rahul has had a point to prove in IPL for some time, and it’s not just after his tussle with the Lucknow Super Giants owners. 

When he joined the team, he said that he hasn’t ever won the IPL and so haven’t the Capitals. So he wants to turn it around for both and win it for DC this time. 

With leadership experience behind him and the brand value to add to it, he’s the most probable candidate to become the DC skipper. If those reasons are not enough, his average of 45.46 and strikes at 134.6 in the league make a very strong case for him to lead the side. 

Axar Patel 

It might seem an out-of-the-blue name, but Axar has been around the IPL for 150 games and strikes the ball at 130.9 despite being a front-line bowling option with his 123 wickets at an economy of 7.3. 

He’s no novice to how things are done, and in case the Capitals want an Indian deputy to Rahul, Axar is the best candidate, as he has also been part of that setup for quite some time now. 

With his batting reaching new levels, this also seems like the right time to give him extra responsibility.