- By Himanshu Badola
- Sat, 15 Mar 2025 08:19 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
IPL 2025: KL Rahul was quick to react after Axar Patel was appointed as the new captain of Delhi Capitals ahead of the IPL 2025 as the franchise made the much-awaited announcement on Friday, March 14.
Axar emerged as one of the frontrunners to take over DC's captaincy along with KL Rahul and Faf du Plessis. The star all-rounder took over the role from Rishabh Pant who now has joined Lucknow Super Giants.
Rahul is the former captain of Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants. du Plessis captained Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in IPL 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Rahul, who reportedly rejected captaincy, came up with an interesting reaction after Axar's appointment. "Congrats Bapu. Wishing you the best in this journey and always with you," Rahul wrote on Instagram while reacting to DC's captaincy announcement.
View this post on Instagram
Axar has been a part of Delhi Capitals since 2019. He started his IPL career with Mumbai Indians but didn't get a chance in IPL 2013. He moved to Punjab Kings in 2014 and stayed with them till 2018. DC have been retaining Axar since 2019.
Talking about Rahul, the senior Indian wicketkeeper-batter joined DC for a whopping price of INR 14 crore in the IPL 2025 mega auction. He was with LSG from IPL 2022 to 2024. Under him, LSG reached the second round in 2022 and 2023.
He had also captained Punjab Kings for two seasons but the team crashed out of the league stage in both seasons. The 32-year-old also has played for Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Sunrisers Hyderabad during his IPL career but is yet to win a title.
While IPL 2025 kicks off on March 22, Axar will make his debut as a full-time captain on March 24 when Delhi will take on LSG in their first match of the season. They will play their first home game against Mumbai Indians at the Arun Jaitely Stadium on April 13.
DC finished sixth in IPL 2024 on the back of 7 wins and 14 points in as many matches under Rishabh Pant's captaincy.
