New Delhi, Feb 14 Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra has identified three potential candidates for the Delhi Capitals captaincy role - Axar Patel, KL Rahul and Faf du Plessis - in the IPL 2025. He believes Axar could be the frontrunner given his recent rise in stature within Indian cricket.
Delhi retained Axar for Rs 16.50 crore ahead of the mega auction last year, reflecting their faith in his abilities. They later secured KL Rahul for Rs 14 crore and Faf du Plessis for Rs 2 crore at the auction in Jeddah.
Axar had a productive IPL 2024 season, picking up 11 wickets at an economy rate of 7.65 while also contributing 235 runs at a strike rate of 131.28 in 12 innings.
"I feel Delhi have three options. They have Axar Patel and KL Rahul, and they have Faf du Plessis as well. They retained Axar Patel. Bapu's stature is growing. He has been outstanding of late. He is the Indian T20I team's vice-captain," Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
"He 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. He understands the pulse of the game. He puts the team ahead of himself. So he could be a great choice."
Chopra also highlighted KL Rahul’s leadership experience as a strong factor in his captaincy bid. "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," he noted.
While discussing left-field choices, Chopra suggested that Faf du Plessis could be an option but felt Axar might ultimately be the franchise's pick. "I think it's going to be a close race. One has been retained, and the other has been bought. So one between the two, or else if they want to think absolutely left-field, then Faf du Plessis, who is not getting old at all. However, I have a feeling that it could be Axar," he observed.
In another major captaincy development, Chopra expressed surprise at the appointment of Rajat Patidar as the new Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) captain for IPL 2025. "Rajat Patidar is RCB's new leader. We shall find out how effective he would be. We thought it would be Kohli, but he is not. Rajat Patidar is the eighth captain. Before him, they had Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Kevin Pietersen, Daniel Vettori, Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, and Virat Kohli, who captained them for the longest time."
While RCB have not won an IPL title, Chopra emphasised that they remain a competitive side. "Great players have captained this franchise. We measure a franchise's success on the number of trophies they have lifted. They haven't won even one, but it is not an unsuccessful franchise. It's a decently successful franchise without a trophy. It's not a team that remains at the bottom of the table or close to the wooden spoon," he remarked.
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