NEW DELHI: Delhi Capitals head into the IPL 2025 season with renewed hope under new captain Axar Patel, following Rishabh Pant’s move to Lucknow Super Giants. With fresh faces and a star-studded lineup, the team is determined to claim the elusive IPL trophy. Despite being a consistent contender, Delhi Capitals have reached the final only once—in 2020—when they fell short against Mumbai Indians, losing by five wickets.
Can captain Axar change their fortunes?
One of the standout signings for Delhi Capitals this season is the dynamic keeper-batter KL Rahul, who was bought for Rs 14 crores.
The team’s pace attack has been bolstered by the inclusion of Australian pacer Mitchell Starc, making their bowling department a force to be reckoned with. Starc will be supported by T. Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar, and Mohit Sharma in the pace department.
In the batting department, Delhi Capitals boast of hard-hitting veteran Faf Du Plessis, KL Rahul, Tristan Stubbs, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Karun Nair, and Ashutosh Sharma—who was a standout performer last year while playing for Punjab Kings.
The spin department will be led by captain Axar Patel and Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav, both of whom were part of India’s victorious campaign at the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, along with KL Rahul.
The team has also made significant changes to its support staff, with Venugopal Rao as the Director of Cricket, Hemang Badani as the Head Coach, Kevin Pietersen as the Mentor, Matthew Mott as the Assistant Coach, Munaf Patel as the Bowling Coach, Anton Roux as the Fielding Coach, and Vijay Bharadwaj as the Head of Scouting.
TimesofIndia.com presents a SWOT analysis of Delhi Capitals ahead of IPL 2025:
Delhi Capitals undoubtedly boast an explosive batting lineup on paper. With Faf Du Plessis, Fraser-McGurk, KL Rahul, Abishek Porel, and Tristan Stubbs forming a powerful top order, they have the potential to make a strong start right from the first ball. The middle order, featuring Karun Nair, Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, and captain Axar Patel, has the ability to turn the game around at any given moment.
The pace attack is equally formidable, with one of the world’s top left-arm pacers, Mitchell Starc, leading the charge.
Alongside him, T. Natarajan, the death-overs specialist, Dushmantha Chameera, the rejuvenated Mohit Sharma, and Mukesh Kumar strengthen the pace department.
However, Delhi Capitals’ primary weakness lies in their spin options.
While Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav are experienced, the team lacks depth in this department. To address this, they have signed uncapped Indian spinner Ajay Mandal, offering some potential for the spin attack.
DC’s Best XI:
Jake Fraser-McGurk, Faf du Plessis, KL Rahul, Abishek Porel (wk), Axar Patel (c), Tristan Stubbs, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Mohit Sharma, T Natarajan
SQUAD:
Faf du Plessis, Karun Nair, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, Tripurana Vijay, Vipraj Nigam, Axar Patel, Darshan Nalkande, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Manvanth Kumar L, Madhav Tiwari, Tristan Stubbs, Abishek Porel, Donovan Ferreira, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Dushmantha Chameera, Mitchell Starc, Mohit Sharma, T Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar
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