Axar Patel has had a sensational start to his DC captaincy career, winning all three games for his team, the only side unbeaten going into Thursday. This, despite not having a lot of experience in the role. Coming into IPL 2025, he had led his state side Gujarat in only 23 matches across formats and led DC in one game last year.
Axar Patel is not the “only voice” in the Delhi Capitals (DC) changeroom and he makes sure to “leverage off a lot of the other senior players in the group and the coaches” – that’s the observation of assistant coach Matthew Mott.
Axar Patel has been appointed captain of Delhi Capitals (DC) for IPL 2025. Axar Patel has been with DC since 2019 and was their top retention for INR 16.50 crore ahead of the mega auction last November. While his captaincy experience isn’t extensive, Axar Patel was named India’s T20I vice-captain in January this year.
Delhi Capitals have named all-rounder Axar Patel as their new captain ahead of the 2025 Indian Premier League season. The announcement came on Friday after intense speculations over the successor to Rishabh Pant, who was bought by Lucknow Super Giants during the 2025 auction.
Delhi Capitals retained Axar Patel for IPL 2025 season
With DC successfully bidding for KL Rahul in the same auction, speculations were rife over the captaincy spot; however, DC have put faith in the all-rounder from Gujarat, who has been with the franchise since 2019. Axar Patel was one of the four players retained by the franchise ahead of the 2025 auction, alongside Kuldeep Yadav, Tristan Stubbs, and Abhishek Porel.
DC retained Axar Patel for INR 18 crore. The 31-year-old emerged as one of the top-performing players for the franchise across the six seasons; in the 82 matches he has played for the Capitals, Axar Patel has scored 967 runs and picked up 62 wickets at an impressive economy of 7.09. Throughout this time, Axar Patel also became a mainstay in Team India across all formats.
Axar Patel , 31, has led his state team Gujarat in 23 matches across formats, most recently in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2024-25. He captained DC in one IPL match last year – a must-win fixture that they lost to RCB to miss out on the playoffs – when Rishabh Pant was serving a ban for a slow over-rate.
With Pant’s exit from the DC franchise ahead of the mega auction, Axar Patel was their most experienced player. He’s played 82 games for them across six seasons; last year he scored 235 runs at an average of nearly 30 and took 11 wickets with an economy rate of 7.65.
DC assistant coach Matthew Mott heaped praise on captain Axar Patel, claiming that he doesn’t want to be the only voice in the team. Axar has enjoyed a fine start to life as DC skipper in IPL 2025.
Delhi Capitals assistant coach Matthew Mott heaps praise on Axar Patel’s leadership skills in IPL 2025
Axar Patel’s captaincy style puts the players at ease instantly and has also played a massive role in Delhi Capitals blazing start to this IPL season, reckons the team’s assistant coach Matthew Mott. DC have won three games on the bounce and currently sits on the pole position in the points table.
“He’s just got a great balance on cricket and life. He’ll just summarise the group and make sure the players are included. They’ve got a smile on their face. He doesn’t come across as being the only voice (in the team),” Mott said in the pre-match press conference in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
Mott said Axar Patel uses the experience of other senior players in the squad like KL Rahul and Faf Du Plessis, a former Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper, to good effect.
“He’s not taking it all on himself. He leverages a lot of the other senior players in the group. We mentioned KL, Faf as well. He’s got a lot of experience to draw on, particularly Faf. We had a productive meeting around that,” he said.
Mott also rated Axar Patel as a level-headed person who realises the “fickle” nature of cricket.
“He’s played enough cricket to know that it can be a pretty fickle game at times. You’re well aware that when you’re winning, it’s all rosy. I like to think that he’s got that character where if we do have a bad day, he’ll be just as positive,” Mott said.
However, the former white-ball coach of England hoped Axar Patel will utilise himself a tad more as a bowler. The left-arm spinner has bowled just eight overs across the last three matches without taking any wickets.
“We were probably a little surprised that he didn’t bowl more. He felt like the other bowlers were doing well. Someone like Vipraj (Nigam) has come in and been a sensation for us.
“He probably took some overs where Axel might have bowled. Given his experience and time, I felt he had control of the game. I think in the matches coming forward, you’ll see him bowl a lot more,” he noted.
With 3 wins on the trot under Axar Patel’s leadership this season, Delhi Capitals will now lock horns with Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Chinnaswamy Stadium on April 10th and DC would love to keep their winning momentum intact.
Also Read: RCB vs DC: Can RCB Stop DC’s Unbeaten Run At Chinnaswamy?