The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 is not far from the start as the BCCI has announced the schedule for the marquee tournament. Two teams are remaining who haven’t made an official announcement about their captain for the new season. Those two teams are Delhi Capitals (DC) and Kolkata Knight Riders. As far as the Delhi Capitals captain, they have a few options in the squad for the leadership role. A former Indian cricketer, Aakash Chopra talked about the Delhi Capitals captaincy candidate on his YouTube channel. In this article, we will see what options Aakash Chopra has suggested for the Delhi Capitals captaincy. So let’s start.
Aakash Chopra’s 3 Potential Candidates for the Delhi Capitals Captaincy: IPL 2025
(1) Axar Patel
Axar Patel is the first choice for the role of Delhi Capitals captain in IPL 2025. Considering his recent form and his game awareness, Chopra backs Axar Patel to become a Delhi Capitals captain.
Axar has done exceedingly well with both, the bat and the ball in the last few years. He has been exceptional in all three formats, and his fielding has been top-notch. He is mature and can lead the side, feels Aakash Chopra. Chopra said Axar understands the pulse of the game and always puts the team ahead. So e could be a great choice for Delhi Capitals leadership.
“Axar will play the Champions Trophy as well and has been given a very important role in the Indian ODI team. He is mature, he is brilliant. The all-rounder understands the pulse of the game. He puts the team ahead of himself. So he could be a great choice.” – Chopra said.
(2) KL Rahul
KL Rahul is also a consideration for Chopra for a DC captaincy role. Rahul has so much experience in leading the franchises like Kings XI Punjab (now known as Punjab Kings), and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). He has led LSG for three years and two times, his team reached the top 4 spot. Also, he has captained Team India in white-ball cricket and for one test. So he has enough experience in the leadership role.
Along with the captaincy, he has been a consistent performer with the bat over the years. He has led from the front and set an example for the team. DC bought him for a whopping INR 14 crore in the Indian Premier League IPL 2025 auction.
Chopra feels that the franchise had a steal deal as KL Rahul might have got even more in the IPL 2025 auction. “The second is KL Rahul. I feel they got him cheap. It was a steal. He has got some captaincy credentials. He has captained India, the Punjab Kings, and the Lucknow Super Giants for three years, and they qualified for two years as well. So he could be the captain. – Chopra on KL Rahul as a DC captain candidate.
(3) Faf du Plessis
Faf du Plessis is the most experienced captain as compared to the above two. He has led South Africa across formats and led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for three years (2022-2024). RCB released him before the IPL 2025 auction and DC bought him for an INR 2 crore.
Faf can be a good option if DC needs an experienced leader. Chopra also suggested Faf du Plessis for captaincy, highlighting his prior experience in leadership.
Who will lead Delhi Capitals in IPL 2025?
DC has shown faith in Axar Patel by retaining him for an INR 16.50 crore. The media reports also suggest that he might lead DC in IPL 2025. On the other hand, KL Rahul is an experienced Indian captaincy candidate, while Faf du Plessis is an overseas choice. The franchises prefer an Indian captaincy option. Also, Faf is not getting younger. The DC might look at someone who can be with them for a longer run. So either KL or Axar might get the nod.
Let’s see how things panned out for them. The IPL 2025 will commence with KKR and RCB locking horns in a tournament opener on March 22 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. The venue will also host the 2nd Qualifier and the final on May 23 and 25 respectively. Hyderabad will host the 1st Qualifier 1 and an Eliminator on May 20 and 21 respectively.
DC squad for the IPL 2025:-
Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Tristan Stubbs, Abishek Porel, Mitchell Starc, KL Rahul, Harry Brook, Jake Fraser-McGurk, T. Natarajan, Karun Nair, Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Faf du Plessis, Mukesh Kumar, Darshan Nalkande, Vipraj Nigam, Dushmantha Chameera, Donovan Ferreira, Ajay Mandal, Manvanth Kumar, Tripurana Vijay, Madhav Tiwari.
Also Read: Aakash Chopra Predict The Potential Captain of KKR : IPL 2025
FAQs:-
(1) What is the captaincy record of KL Rahul in IPL?
KL Rahul has captained in 64 IPL games (across two franchises) and won 31 games. He has also lost 31 games as captain while two games ended in a tie. He is currently at No. 8 on the list of the most number of games as IPL captain.
(2) Which player has won the most games as captain of the IPL?
MS Dhoni has won the most games as a captain of the IPL team/teams. He has captained Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rising Pune Supergiants (RPSG) (for one year; in 2016) in the IPL. MS Dhoni has won 133 games as captain in the IPL while captaining in 226 games.
