3 major challenges for Axar Patel as DC captain ahead of IPL 2025

Delhi Capitals (DC) appointed all-rounder Axar Patel as their new captain ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season. He was previously the vice-captain of the team as well.

Axar will head into the IPL 2025 season fresh off the 2025 Champions Trophy triumph, where he played a vital role for India throughout the tournament, proving his worth on the big stage.

This will be Axar's seventh season with the Delhi Capitals in the IPL after having joined the team ahead of the 2019 season. While KL Rahul was being expected to lead the side, the franchise has shown faith in their existing player to take over captaincy duties.

Previously, Rishabh Pant led the side. However, he was released and moved to the Lucknow Super Giants for the new season. Axar Patel, on the other hand, was retained by Delhi for a whopping amount of ₹16.50 crore.

While this comes as another stepping stone in his career, the 31-year-old will certainly face several challenges as he prepares to lead the side. That said, let us take a look at what could be the major possible challenges be for Axar Patel as captain of DC in IPL 2025.

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#3 Axar Patel has limited captaincy experience

Axar Patel has been with Delhi Capitals for six seasons and is now undoubtedly among their core players in the side. He has also performed well for them and is deserving enough to lead the side.

However, among the major challenges for him will be leading in a high-pressure tournament. The all-rounder has very limited experience as a captain until this point in his career.

He has led his state team Gujarat in only 23 domestic matches so far, including recent tournaments such as the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and the Vijay Hazare Trophy. In the IPL, he led Delhi in just one game last year in the absence of Pant against RCB, which they ended up losing.

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#2 Bringing a new set of players together

The structures and combinations of many teams have changed given the mega auction took place ahead of IPL 2025. Delhi Capitals themselves have several new faces in the team, who will be turning out for them for the very first time.

Axar Patel as captain will have the challenge of bringing together and managing a new set of players, which include some big names like KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Faf Du Plessis, and Mitchell Starc among others.

Moreover, with new players coming in, the team combiation and strategy will also be a challenging aspect, for example, working out his own batting position and where someone like Rahul would bat. Sorting and defining roles will be key and a huge challenge as well.

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#1 Pressure of winning an IPL title

Above everything else, the biggest challenge for Axar Patel as captain of Delhi Capitals will be the pressure of winning an IPL title. Delhi are among those teams which has never won the title in the history of the tournament even once.

The closest they came was in 2020, when they made the final but ended up losing and finishing runners-up. Their performance has also gone down in the past seasons.

After the 2021 season, Delhi Capitals have even failed to make the playoffs for three straight seasons from 2022 to 2024. That said, the first goal would be to make it past the group stages and give themselves a chance of winning the title.